Pokemon CampRise of the Guardians
by Drachesoul
Summary: Meet Kaelen, an aspiring sixteen-year-old Pokemon Trainer. She is accepted into the local Pokemon Camp, where strong potential Trainers are recruited for training rare and powerful Pokemon. But something just doesn't seem quite right...
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon Camp

"Kaelen, finish packing your things!" Joy. I woke up at six in the morning to my older brother's call. My head still groggy from the after-effects of sleep, I opened my mouth to shout back an insult. Then I remembered. _I'm going to Pokemon Camp today!_ Hastily rubbing the sleepy feeling from my eyes, I glanced around for my suitcase. I found it nestled between my novel-filled bookcase and my softly snoring Mightyena, its paws running about as if it were dreaming. I nudged it, and it shot up, opening its bright yellow eyes, taking a moment to yawn widely before looking into my eyes, wagging its tail happily. Giving a luxurious stretch, it moved over a few feet, laid back down, and went back to sleep.

"You goofball," I said affectionately, rubbing Mightyena's ears the way it liked, eliciting a quiet grunt from the large canine. I grabbed my suitcase, and quickly stuffed clothes in it, panicking as I could not find my brush or my sneakers. Suddenly the door opened, startling Mightyena. It growled, then realized that it was only my brother Dane. Glaring reproachfully at him, Mightyena purposefully stalked off behind my twin bed. Moments later the sound of muffled snoring reached our ears. I grinned, but it dissipated as I glanced at my brother's disapproving face.

" Let me guess. You forgot to pack." I stared sheepishly back at him. He shook his head and reached behind him. Smiling, he pulled out a new suitcase, and handed it to me. Aghast, I unzipped it and found all of my clothes, as well as my brush and sneakers. I smiled, and Dane looked at me benevolently.

"I thought you could use a new suitcase. Your old one has Mightyena's fur permanently ground into it." I rushed into his arms, and he hugged me.

"Thank you so much!" I ran my hands over the suitcase, feeling the new material. I noticed a large pocket in the front, and peered inside. Tucked safely in clear plastic containment units were seven Pokeballs. But they were unlike any I'd ever seen before. Opening one of the plastic covers, I pulled out a brilliant white one with red trim. It expanded in my hand to show a Pokeball of the exact opposite of a regular one.

"It's gorgeous," I exclaimed.

"It's a rare Pokeball. You get one for every ten regular Pokeballs you buy at the mart. I don't know what it's called though." I smiled at him. "Considering I spend so much money there anyway, the local mart gave me a set of them as thanks."

"God, Dane! How can I ever thank you?" He thought for a moment, running his hands through his wavy black hair.

" You can thank me by doing your best at Pokemon Camp. I went there four years ago, and I still fondly remember it." His ice-blue eyes glazed over, and I could see that he was lost in the memories.

"Okay," I said. I stood up and dragged my new suitcase out of my room and down the stairs, Mightyena dutifully following behind me.

"Now Mightyena, can you promise to be good while I'm gone?" It whined, and nuzzled my hand. "Aw, relax. I'm only going to be gone a month." Mightyena whined even louder, and pawed at my suitcase. _Please don't go, Kaelen. _

I froze in my tracks and stared at my Pokemon. Did Mightyena just speak to me? In all the years that I've known it, ever since I found it as a Poochyena cowering behind a trashcan, I'd never heard it speak before.

Absently, I petted its muzzle and gathered my suitcase, pondering the possibilities.

"Dane! Let's go!" I called. He came rushing out of the house, and skidded to a stop, stepping on Mightyena's furry tail. It yelped and snarled at Dane who began to apologize profusely. I couldn't help but laugh at their silly banter.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he replied, glancing nervously at Mightyena, who glared at him, its tail safely tucked between its front legs. "Sorry, Mightyena," he said, reaching out to pet it. _It's ok, Dane. I forgive you._ I saw Mightyena gently lick Dane's hand, and a smile spread slowly across his face.

"Are you two done already?" I complained, glancing at my watch. "We're gonna be late!"

"Not to worry, little sis. I've got it covered!" He rifled about in his pack for a moment before drawing out a Pokeball, its coloring slightly faded from being thrown so many times. "Let's go!" He flung the ball into the air and it burst open. A flash of brilliant white light hit the ground to reveal my brother's very first Pokemon.


	2. Chapter 2

I've decided to write this story for a while and see how it goes…not bad for my first fanfiction, huh? If anyone wants to maybe add an idea or character, feel free to contact me. -Drachesoul

"Pidgeot!" it cried, unfurling its massive tan and brown wings. Its sharp eyes scanned the horizon for possible danger before lowering its head to greet Dane. "Hey, Pidgeot. How've you been?"

It chirped merrily and affectionately nipped Dane's finger. He laughed and petted his Pokémon's soft plumage. "I need you to take Kaelen to Pokémon Camp, ok?" Pidgeot nodded, and glanced my way. I blushed a little and looked down. Pidgeot's eyes were so expressive, and I couldn't help but feel as if it were gazing into my soul. But I knew it would never hurt me, despite its fierce battle call and keen-edged talons. I had known it for a long time and had learned to respect it, lest I earn a disapproving peck from its beak. Gathering up my suitcase and strapping it to my back, I mounted Pidgeot and sat right behind its wing joints. "Are you ready?" he called.

"Not really, but I suppose I'd better get going." I stared up at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun. I let out a deep breath and tried to relax. Dane had been to the exact same summer camp four years ago. How different could it have gotten?

"Whoa," I said, nearly falling off Pidgeot's broad back as it flapped its mighty wings once, lifting itself into the air.

"Goodbye, Dane!" I yelled over the rushing air.

"See ya, Kaelen!" he replied.

"God, I hope I know what I'm getting myself into," I muttered to myself, clutching Pidgeot's neck so hard my knuckles turned white. _"Will you stop strangling me, please?" _ a voice called. "_It's beginning to hurt" _Startled, I looked around frantically for a moment before realizing Pidgeot was speaking to me.

"Oh, sorry." I released my hold on it and it sighed happily. Wait a second…

"Um, Pidgeot? I'm sorry to bother you, but…"

"_Yes?"_ it queried in a slightly irate voice.

"How can I be speaking to you? Am I going insane? Oh, God, I am going insane aren't I?" I kept on babbling for a while, trying to express the myriad of emotions I was feeling at the moment.

_ "No, you are not going insane. You merely have the talent to speak with us telepathically. Just like Dane does."_

I gasped audibly. "Dane had the same talent as me?" I could barely believe it. Here I was trying to comprehend the reasons behind my apparent psychiatric meltdown and my brother's Pidgeot tells me it's perfectly normal.

_"Yes. I take it he just didn't tell you."_

"B-but how is this even possible?"

_"The process is very complicated. It begins with…Oh look! We're here."_ What a way to change the subject. Just when things were starting to get interesting. I looked over Pidgeot's left side and gasped. A beautiful expanse of trees and rocks dotted the landscape, creating a picture you could usually see only in a postcard. A miniscule orange blob indicated the entrance, a brick wall surrounding a large area, which included a forest, a lake, and even a miniature mountain.

"Wow! Look at this place." I poked Pidgeot's neck. "I think we're supposed to go there." Without acknowledging my presence, it veered sharply to the left before banking into a steep dive. I screamed, but not in terror. I was used to Pidgeot suddenly diving and performing aerial tricks an acrobat would have given anything to be able to do. We landed with a soft _thump! _ I jumped off its back and unstrapped my suitcase. I could hold it from here.

"Thank you, Pidgeot," I said sincerely. Grasping my suitcase, I patted it on the shoulder and watched it take off, its job of carting me to camp complete. With a nervous sigh, I made my way through the bright entryway. Time for camp.


	3. Chapter 3

Still trying to get some of the finer points of down…and it seems to be working…oh and before I forget, I have some copyright things to say:

Pokemon is copyrighted by…well, Pokemon, I think. That's it. Enjoy Chapter 3

-Drachesoul

(here is where the funny sort of stars go…I haven't figured out how to do it yet…)

I stepped into a different world. Beyond the sign stood a winding pathway of dirt, which at the moment was flooded with campers. The sides of the path were filled with trees and bushes, giving the entryway a very natural feel, the sweet aroma of flowers drifting through the air. I took in a deep breath and sighed happily. I felt very much at peace...

Until my best friend almost ran me over. We collided with a _thud!_ and I felt my suitcase go flying out of my hand. I hit the dirt hard and felt my shoulder smash something hard. I winced.

"Ow! Hey, watch it, Malik! Some of us are trying hard to make it to the registration desk unhurt." Malik stood up and brushed off his immaculately clean white pants before reaching out his hand to help me up. I took it gratefully and stood up with a groan, massaging my shoulder.

"Sorry, Kaelen," he said, a faint hint of red coloring his pale skin. His green eyes stared at the ground, trying to look invisible.

"Aw, it's okay. I'm not exactly someone who's coordinated after all." I slung my arm around his shoulder, and his face brightened. I paused for a moment to pick up my suitcase and together we walked to the registration to start our Pokemon Camp experience.

"Wow!" I said, looking up and down the path. "There are certainly a lot of Trainers here." Malik searched through his duffel bag (also white, though he prefers to call it "cream") and pulled out a battered brochure for the camp. He scanned it and his eyes widened.

"Look! It says here that they only accept three hundred and twenty-five campers every summer." I read over his shoulder: "If more than the allotted number of campers register there will be a deciding competition."

Glancing behind me and noting the throng of campers pushing their way through, I noted dryly "I think there's more than the 'allotted number' of campers here."

Malik shrugged and his silver bangs fell over his eyes. Without hesitation, I brushed them away from his face. He blushed again and dragged his feet through the dirt. We had always been friends, but had never thought of ourselves as romantically involved. I was just really comfortable around him. In a way, Malik was kind of like my older brother, without the bossy attitude. But lately we had been hanging out together a lot, and I got the impression that he thought of me differently.

"Let's go this way," I said, pointing to an empty registration desk. A tall, muscular man with short-cropped blonde hair sat in a chair, a bored look on his face. He was reading the latest copy of "Pokemon Trainers United", and didn't notice us approaching.

"Ahem!" He ignored me. "Um, excuse me, but is this where we register?" I coughed, and he slowly averted his eyes from the magazine. Taking a blue pen in his hand he read in a monotone voice.

"Thank you for coming to Pokemon Camp. We have an estimated thirteen hundred Trainers registered for this season, and we can only accept three hundred and twenty five." He paused to take an exaggerated breath. "Therefore, there will be a deciding competition to decide which of those Trainers will stay. Further instructions are to be given in the Commons, at which point the competition shall begin." He reached under the table and handed each of us a package. The package had DO NOT OPEN UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO scrawled in marker on the front.

"All you need to do is find your name in the binder to my left, and sign your name, certifying that you indeed showed up today." He pushed the binder toward me and thrust the pen at me. I flipped through the pages and found my name. I signed it hastily and gave the binder to Malik, who began to search for his own name.

"Once again, thank you for wanting to spend your summer at Pokemon Camp, and we may see you again." He fell silent and began to read again.

"Okay…? Thanks." I grabbed Malik's elbow and dragged him away from the registration table. "Thirteen hundred Trainers, Malik! Almost a thousand of these will be sent back home." I shivered, imagining how disappointed my brother would be if I didn't make it in.

"Relax, Kaelen," Malik said soothingly. "I know we can do it."

I took a deep breath and smiled "Yeah, I know. So lets go out there and show them!"

A loud roar greeted us as we arrived at the Commons. A large courtyard with an amphitheater greeted us. Hundreds of Trainers scurried to find a seat, some without luck. We ended up standing in the front, next to a rather scary looking Rampardos. I nodded uneasily at it and it looked at me with piercing red eyes. _You may wish to cover your ears, young Trainer. I am about to roar again._ I thanked it silently and tugged at the hem of Malik's shirt.

"You may want to cover your ears." I said. He cocked his head quizzically.

"Why?" I glared at him and he covered his ears. Not a moment too soon, as the harsh bellow of the Rampardos rang throughout the amphitheater.

"Thanks," he replied. "How did you know?" I turned my head from side to side and mouthed: _not here. I'll tell you later._ He merely nodded and pointed at a podium placed on the stage. I shut up.

A short woman was hurrying to the stage, a pile of papers clutched in her arms. She was wearing a very formal-looking suit, and I assumed she was the Head of the camp. She cleared her voice and tapped the microphone, wincing when it produced a sound of feedback, causing those of us in the front row to clap our hands over our ears.

"Welcome to this year's Pokemon Camp!" She waited for a round of raucous cheering to subside before continuing. "I am the Headmaster of this camp, and I am here before you to present the form of competition that will occur soon."

With a great shuffling of papers, she found the one she was looking for and began to read.

"Today's competition will be based on your skills for catching Pokemon." Noticing the smiles on several of the Trainer's faces she raised her eyebrows, pencil-thin lines that looked almost invisible.

"But these Pokemon won't be ones you find in the wild. These Pokemon are beyond what you'd normally encounter. But the real challenge today is not catching these strong Pokemon, but in doing so without the aid of any Pokemon of your own." The crowd broke into nervous chatter and surprised faces. Hell, I'd never even heard of catching Pokemon without my Mightyena there to back me up. I glanced at Malik, but he was paying rapt attention to the Headmaster.

"Using the tools provided in the package you received at the registration desk, it is your job to catch at least one Pokemon within the camp boundaries." She indicated to a set of paths branching off into the distance. The entire audience followed her finger. "Those paths lead to the WildZone, the section of camp usually reserved for training activities. But today, the WildZone has been modified into a catching field. Many Pokemon inhabit the WildZone, but you may find different ones in different locations. Each potential camper has until sundown today to return to the amphitheater with at least one Pokemon. Those of you that are lucky enough to return with two Pokemon will have first priority.

I clenched my fists and glanced at my watch. It was already 1:30. Sundown would be in about five hours. I could probably catch one Pokemon, but two? And without using any of my Pokemon? That would be almost impossible. I rejoined the talk as Malik shoved me and told me to pay attention. I grimaced. I hated long speeches, mainly because they were long, and I had better things to be doing.

"Now campers, I bid you good day." Oh thank God, the speech was over. "You have approximately five hours to complete this task. You may open your packages…" she paused for dramatic effect. "Now."

I ripped open the package to find it empty save for two Pokeballs and a set of colored keys. "I guess these are for the different Zones." I saw Malik staring at the contents of his package, analyzing it and determining the best course of action. He was always one who preferred logic and patience to my spur-of-the-moment ideas and jumpy personality. What can I say? We're Yin and Yang, North and South, good and….well you get the point.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked, without tearing his eyes away from his package.

"Not really," I replied, attaching the Pokeballs to my belt. I headed in the direction of the Forest Zone, Malik following behind me. This was going to be really hard. Thank God I'm good under pressure.


	4. Chapter 4

There were about thirty or forty Trainers standing at the entrance to the Forest Zone. I strode up to the gate and yanked on it, but it was locked.

"Nice try, babe, but don't you think we've already done that?" The smooth voice came from a teenager with bright red hair and freckly skin. His two buddies next to him laughed, and he shot them a venomous look, quieting them instantly.

"I haven't seen you around here before, babe. Are you new here?" His casual use of the word "babe" infuriated me.

"I have a name, you know," I hissed through my teeth. I had just met him and I already didn't like him.

"Then why don't you tell me? Mine's Finn by the way." He flashed me a dazzling smile, crossed his arms and waited for me to reciprocate the deed.

"I'm sorry, but I tend not to converse with people that have no respect for girls," I said icily. His buddies laughed and poked him, no doubt teasing him. He brushed them away with an annoyed look on his face.

"Fine then, be antisocial. It's not like I care anyway." He looked at the locked gate. "We've already tried to open it, but it won't work." He stared at it for a moment, and turned around, motioning for his lackeys to follow.

"Let's go guys. We can catch Pokemon somewhere else."

As the group faded beyond my vision, I sighed massively, thankful that this confrontation hadn't turned into something vicious. I turned and made sure that they were gone before reaching into my pants pocket and pulling out my set of keys. I carefully selected one and turned it in the lock. It popped open with a rusty squeal.

"How did you do that?" Malik asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Um…I turned it to the right." He glared at me and I shrugged. "What? I did."

"No, I meant where did you get those keys from?" Now it was my turn to look confused.

"Didn't you get a set?" He shook his head and fumbled around for his box. He handed it to me and I peered inside.

He had gotten two Pokeballs like I had, but instead of keys, four Poffins sat nestled in a container.

"Hmmm. My guess is that everyone got a different tool to aid them with catching. That way we couldn't use someone else's items. But why I got the keys, I'll never know." I pulled open the gate and motioned for Malik to follow me.

The forest was filled with vibrant flowers and trees. The ground was soft and pliable, and I could see Malik gritting his teeth. _God, he must really be regretting the decision to wear white today. _He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes. I stifled a laugh. I heard a rustling of trees to my left, and had just enough time to dodge out of the way as a silver blur shot past me. Malik, however, wasn't so lucky. With a yell, he toppled over backwards, and splashed into a puddle of mud, soaking his immaculate clothes.

"What the hell?" I muttered, reaching forwards to help my friend. I grasped his mud-soaked hand in mine and tugged him to his feet. _That's what you get for disrupting my sleep_, said a voice. I looked around for the source of it and gasped.

A Scizor stood, balanced precariously on a tree branch, above my head. Its shiny red body stood out among the natural colors of the forest, and its fierce eyes stared at me. _Why are you staring at me like that?_ It wondered. Then it jumped out of the way as Malik hurled a rock at it.

"Malik!" I said, holding him down and preventing him from throwing another rock.

"I spent _three _days looking for this outfit," he seethed. He looked at me and gave me an apologetic stare. "I'm sorry Kaelen, but I need to go after this Pokemon," he said calmly, his anger gone.

"It's okay, Malik. I'll meet up with you later, say in the Mountain Zone?" I asked. He nodded and ran off, pulling a Poffin from his box. _Knowing him, he _will_ catch that Scizor. After all, _ I chuckled to myself. _ No one messes with his clothes and gets away with it._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Drachesoul here. Got inspired by some reviews on this, so here's the next part. Something big is happening soon, so anybody with any OC's they'd like to add need only send me a PM or post a review. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy. **

After what seemed like an hour of walking through the Forest Zone, I came across another gate. Pulling out my map yet again, (I'm not that great of a navigator to begin with and without the use of technology, I felt pretty screwed) I analyzed it for a brief minute.

According to the map, this was the entrance gate to the next Zone. Stowing my map back into my pack and pulling the set of keys from my jeans, I approached the door to look for any helpful designs or clues that would open the locked door.

My hands ran over the old gate, feeling out every irregularity I could find, trying to determine which ones were from old age and overuse and which ones were just plain damn out of place. "Yes!" I hissed, spotting a mark that I could've sworn hadn't been there a second ago. Oh, well. Take whatever luck you can find.

Brushing off some dirt and rust, I found a sigil that looked a lot like twin mountain peaks. Wait, I'd seen that somewhere before. Taking my keys and rifling through them, I found the one with the same symbol etched on it. Unlocking the door and pushing it open with all of my body weight, I entered the Mountain Zone.

Almost immediately, I fell off of a cliff. Not really, but it was a close call. The terrain had changed drastically, and even the weather seemed completely new. Gone was the well-worn tree-lined path of the forest, to be replaced by a winding and treacherous mountain path. Boulders stacked as high as a Charizard leaned precariously against one another, daring somebody to so much as breathe wrong on them.

"Oh, wow, I didn't see this coming," I breathed in wonder. A flock of Skarmory flew by in the distance, the harsh sun reflecting off of their metal feathers. "Malik would kill to see this view," I said, creeping as close to the edge as I dared, marveling at the great view. I could see almost the entire training zone from this vantage point. I spotted the Forest Zone where I just came from, and I saw the same large lake that I saw flying in. It was a lot bigger than I originally thought.

Suddenly, a howl rent the air as I was almost sent plunging to my premature death by an orange and black blur. Hanging on to a buried root and hoisting myself back up the side of the cliff, I saw the blur disappear around a corner. I was beginning to understand the frustration Malik must've felt with that Scizor. A minute later though, I could see why the Pokemon had fled. A swarm of Ninjask buzzed by, clearly agitated. Ninjask were known to be vicious little things, and great partners in battle, but I myself never felt any inclination to capture one.

Cursing under my breath, I dusted myself off and jogged after the insect Pokemon.

Rounding the corner I was met with a sight I thought I'd only ever see on Pokemon TV. A gorgeous Arcanine stood with its back against a rock wall while the Ninjask surrounded it. It growled menacingly and shot off a small burst of flame to warn them away, but the insect Pokemon stayed just out of the Arcanine's reach.

Immediately, I knew that this was the Pokemon that I wanted to capture. Something drew me to it, something strange yet comforting about the way its tail waved in the wind. Running forward, I shoved my way through the line of Ninjask and stepped in front of the huge fiery canine,

_Who are you?_ I heard it say warily, as it sniffed me cautiously, always keeping one eye on the swarm of Ninjask. They circled threateningly, but ignored me.

"My name is Kaelen, and I'm from the camp. I'm not going to hurt you."

_Can you hear me? _It cocked its head in question. _You're like Dane, aren't you?_

"Yeah, I can hear you, though this entire thing is pretty new to me. Dane's actually my older brother, how do you know him?"

_I met your brother once. He was quite friendly when he helped rebuild our main territory after the flood three years ago. If you are like him, then I like you, _Arcanine stated.

"Well, then would you mind helping me? If you're as familiar with the camp as you seem to be, then you should know that the trainers here need to capture a Pokemon without using their partners."

Arcanine seemed to think it over for a second. _Yes I am familiar. No one has ever captured one of my kind before. What makes you think you are worthy of an Arcanine as a partner?_

"That's the thing. I don't think I'm worthy at all, but I'll try my best to be both a partner and a friend to whomever I capture."

The Arcanine looked me straight in the eyes. Finally, it huffed in agreement. _I see no untruth in your statement. Very well, I will be your partner in this if you can get rid of these pesky Ninjask._

"What did you do to piss them off in the first place?" I asked. I couldn't feel the same connection with the Ninjask that I could with the other Pokemon I encountered earlier.

_They have not been very happy with recent developments here. When we relocated our territory to a place further up the mountain to avoid another flood, they were essentially kicked out of their original territory._

"Oh, so it's a domestic dispute," I mused. I'd had to deal with these sorts of things before. With Mightyena being a naturally territorial Pokemon that didn't take lightly to intruders of both the human and Pokemon persuasion, I had more than my fair share of experience with territory issues.

"Why don't you try living in tandem with the Ninjask? Your territory is large enough for both of you, and it seems that you have more than enough resources to share. Since they like those mountain trees, why don't you just mutually agree to share territory?"

The buzzing stopped abruptly. One Ninjask, this one quite a bit larger than the others, touched minds with me.

_Will that work? _It asked.

"I see no reason why not, but it will take work from all of you. Arcanine and Ninjask are both powerful and territorial, but working together I'm positive only good would result."

_Are you agreeable to that? _Ninjask turned its head towards Arcanine, who growled reluctantly.

_Yes, if it means an end to this. My pack will gladly share with you. _With that statement, the Ninjask turned tail and flew off. Arcanine sighed visibly and crouched down to my level.

_As I promised, I will be your partner Pokemon. An Arcanine never goes back on its word. _I pulled out one of my Pokeballs, and the Arcanine tapped its nose to it. A bright white light surrounded the fiery dog's body as it was absorbed into the Pokeball.

When the light faded and the atmosphere of tension dissolved, I cheered. "All right! I caught one!"

Malik stepped from behind a rock. "Wow, I've never seen that method of catching Pokemon before," he smiled. I ran over and gave him a hug.

"How did your plan go?" I queried. I wanted to know if he had succeeded in catching the Scizor.

"Like a charm," he said happily, holding out his own Pokeball. "It turns out that Scizor really like Poffins."

"I knew there had to be a reason why you got those," I clapped him on the back. Checking my watch over my shoulder, I nearly fainted. It was almost time to meet back at the Commons. "Malik, we have to go, or we're gonna be eliminated from the competition!"

He checked his own watch and frowned. "We have thirty minutes to get back to the Commons."

"But it took us over an hour to get here," I said sadly. Sorry, Dane, it looked like I failed.

A grin slowly appeared on his face. "But we didn't have help that time." He threw his Pokeball into the air. Scizor popped out and gazed at me.

_I shouldn't have messed with his clothes, _it said. Nevertheless, it looked rather happy to be paired with Malik.

"Scizor here can fly at super high speeds, as you saw earlier today. And Arcanine are known for their signature speed." I cheered. We could still do this!

"Go, Arcanine!" I threw my Pokeball into the air and Arcanine appeared. It barked a greeting at the Scizor, who waved a claw in return. "Guys, we need to get back to the Commons as soon as possible."

Arcanine nodded and crouched down to invite me onto its back. Scizor stood behind Malik and picked him up under his arms. _You may want to hold on. This is going to be the ride of your life, _I heard both Pokemon say. I barely had time to ask why before Arcanine and Scizor shot off down the mountain path at blinding speed.

Only a few minutes later and we were at the front gate to the WildZone, the scenery on the way down having melted into a watercolor.

"Wow, now that was fun!" I laughed and petted Arcanine in thanks. Malik looked a little pale, but was wearing almost an identical smile. We dismounted and recalled our Pokemon, thanking them for the ride.

Checking my watch, I sighed in relief. We still had ten minutes to spare.

Together we walked back to the commons to be met with one of the longest lines I'd ever seen. Older Trainers wearing the exact same outfits as the registration guy we met earlier were quickly going through the Trainers, determining which ones had come back with a Pokemon and which hadn't.

The Trainers were required to return all materials they had received, whatever they may have been, and were told to release any Pokemon they had captured. Those empty handed were led to the entrance, while those who managed to succeed were led to yet another line.

Quite surprisingly, the line went really fast, and soon Malik and I were separated from each other and jostled into separate lines. The same guy who signed us in was the one in charge of my line.

"Oh, it's you again," he said, a hint of surprise in his voice. Did he honestly think I wasn't up to snuff? "Show me your Pokemon, if you've captured any. If not, the exit is that way." Any tone of surprise faded away and his monotonous voice soon replaced it.

Sighing, I threw my Pokeball into the air. "Arcanine!" it howled. The campers suddenly looked my way. Whispers started floating into my ears. Where did she find that? There's no way she captured that. It must be one of hers from before.

Even my proctor's eyes widened. I knew that he could tell that Arcanine was from the WildZone. "You may recall your Pokemon and proceed to the next line."

That was it? By now I was a little irate. Still, I recalled Arcanine and moved on to the other, smaller line. A minute later Malik joined me. "It still looks like they have too many Trainers," he said, pointing to the line.

"I wonder what else they'll put us through," I grumbled.

This time, the line went slower as Trainers called their Pokemon and proctors took detailed notes. When my turn came up and I called out Arcanine, more people seemed surprised about it. It was then that I remembered what it had told me earlier. _No one has ever captured an Arcanine here before. _

We were both waved through this line and were told to find a seat in the amphitheater, keep our Pokemon out and wait for further instructions.

"Does that mean we're in? I asked, after watching some of the Trainers with Pokemon get escorted back to the entrance. I felt bad for them, I really did. Slowly but surely, more people began filling the theater with Pokemon like Pidgeot, Golduck and Zebstrika at their sides. I spotted Finn and my mood soured.

The same announcer from earlier walked onstage. Tapping the mic, she cleared her throat.

"Thank you for coming today and going through our selection test." The entire amphitheater was deathly silent. "We are pleased to inform those of you here right now that you have been accepted!"

The eerie calm broke as everyone cheered loudly, their Pokemon's calls mixed in with the sound. Arcanine howled and Scizor clashed its claws.

"Can you believe it?" Malik yelled over the din. "We made it!"

"I knew we would!" I yelled back, too happy for many more words. The road wasn't easy, and often littered with leaves and rocks for that matter, but I was definitely on cloud nine right now, and no one could dampen my mood, even Finn, who was cheering along with some of his friends.

"Trainers," the woman called once the majority of the excitement settled. "Congratulations and welcome to Pokemon Camp!"


	6. Chapter 6

**This was the first time writing something with an OC that wasn't mine, so I hope I did them justice. Still looking for OC's (I estimate quite a few of them will eventually be needed.) Thanks for reading and maybe reviewing. -Drachesoul**

"Now, as I am sure you all have noticed, the Pokemon you have captured today aren't usually ones you find in the wild." She pointed in turn to my Arcanine, Malik's Scizor, another Trainer's Xatu, and a Zebstrika.

"These Pokemon call the WildZone their home, which caters to a variety of different environments and locations in order to provide both a great sanctuary for Pokemon and a lovely training field. In exchange for living here, they are agreeable to being captured by campers."

_We've seen many Trainers pass through the camp, each one possessing a drive to succeed that rivals that of a gym leader. _Arcanine stated, licking its paw and making a tuft of fur stick up.

"What makes _you_ the authority on the camp?" I whispered to it, not wanting anyone to overhear me. I got the impression that my Arcanine was just a tad bit arrogant, but that was to be expected. I was the first here to be partnered with one, and it was in the same situation. We just had to get used to each other.

_I have been here since I was a young Growlithe, and as such, I am one of the Pokemon with a fair bit of knowledge when it comes to this. _It puffed out its chest in pride.

"Kaelen, are you…talking to your Arcanine?" Malik asked curiously. Startled, I turned around quickly and nearly fell off of my seat.

"Uh, no?" I squeaked, but I could tell by his expression that he saw right through the lie.

"Alright, whatever, I'll leave it alone for now. But believe me, we are going to talk about this soon." With that, he turned his full attention back to the woman on stage. Reluctantly, I did as well.

"My name is Professor Iris, and I am the head of this camp. If any campers have any questions, please feel free to meet me in my office." She pointed to a bigger building to the left of the amphitheater, right next to a small Pokemon Mart. "Now, I will turn the activities over to our lead counselor, Austin Hale, who will explain the way things will work around here." She looked down stage right and ushered on the lead counselor.

I had to admit, he looked pretty attractive. I could almost hear the girls in the audience screaming like fangirls. Oh, wait, that wasn't in my imagination. Dressed in the camp counselor uniform, which consisted of tan shorts and a blue vest, he walked up onstage and waved at the girls. I could've sworn a few of them fainted on sight.

Malik simply looked confused as a girl sitting behind us nearly toppled into him in a near-faint. Her Pokemon, a large Persian, prevented her fall by hooking its sharp claws into her backpack and pulling her up.

_I am sorry for that, _it apologized, setting its precious bundle back down on her seat.

"Uh, no worries," I said back, and it looked at me in surprise for a second before turning back to Austin.

"Hey guys, welcome to the most awesome summer camp you will ever experience," he cheered, pumping a fist in the air. He sure knew how to get a crowd worked up. "Here's how things are gonna work. You will be assigned to a cabin based on the notes our proctors took during the test."

A sudden bout of conversation rippled through the gathered campers. I myself wondered how they managed to take notes on us.

"How?" shouted Finn from above the rest. Figured he'd be the one arrogant enough to shout that.

Austin Hale turned to him, a playful glint in his green eyes. "Well, that's for me to know and you to never figure out," he smirked. Finn sat back in his chair, sullen. His partner Pokemon was a Machamp, and it patted his back with one of its four hugely muscled arms.

"Oh, I like him," I said happily. Not that I had anything against the misogynistic pig…

"Anyway, when I call your name, come up onstage with your Pokemon, and you will meet your new cabinmates. You will be teammates for the duration of the summer and will need to help your cabin obtain points for the Final Showdown that will occur the last three days of camp. Are there any questions?" he asked. There were none because everyone I could see was busy talking to friends and discussing which cabin they'd be placed in.

"Okay, can we have…" I watched with interest as he began calling out names. People stood up and walked onstage with their Pokemon. The groups didn't seem to be based on what Pokemon each Trainer had captured; from what I could see there was plenty of diversity.

"Next cabin, please." Austin called and he rattled off another list of names.

"Kaelen, Archer, Malik, Dante, Olivia…" I zoned out after that, ignoring the other twenty names that were called. Walking up onstage with Arcanine at my side made the entire experience just a little more comfortable. I wasn't much of a performer, and big crowds weren't my thing.

Malik followed me, and so did three other Trainers. When we gathered together on one side of the stage, we started talking. Austin was still calling names and more people were standing up to join us.

"Hey, I'm Kaelen. This is my friend Malik." I started things off, hoping at least a few of them would be friendly.

"What's up? I'm Olivia and this is my best friend Dante," the other girl said. She had long black hair and dark blue eyes that matched perfectly with her outfit. She had an Umbreon at her feet, which stared at me with piercing red eyes. She held out her hand and I shook it.

"We're from the Hoenn region," Dante said crisply. His partner was a Staraptor, which chirped in greeting. He brushed away his red-tinted bangs, which looked a lot like Staraptor's crest, to reveal deep and soulful brown eyes. I wondered how they got those Pokemon. It seemed as if their Pokemon should be the other way around. Umbreon's stalwart personality seemed better suited for Dante than for Olivia.

"You're from Hoenn? That's quite a ways from here," Malik chimed in.

"Yeah, we were on vacation here and we decided to try and sign up." Olivia petted her Umbreon's large ears and it closed its red eyes in happiness. "What's your name?" she asked the other Trainer who came onstage with us.

"Archer," he said simply. "Archer Gersone." His Xatu stared at us in curiosity, tilting its head so it was almost parallel to the stage floor. Archer certainly looked the part of a Trainer. His green hair was the color of the forest we'd just been in, and was cut Beatles-style, making his orange-brown eyes seem so out of place, yet decidedly him. He was a bit shorter than Malik and Dante, who both seemed quite tall for their age.

"Where are you from?" I asked. He definitely seemed quieter than the others, but I wanted to get to know him.

Archer didn't respond, instead he averted his gaze and stared back out into the crowd. "I hate being onstage," I could hear him grumble. He started to hum an unknown tune.

"It's okay, so do I," I responded, and he turned back to me, the slightest bit of pink coloring his cheeks.

"Really?" he asked. "I tend to hum when I get really nervous, and it sometimes rubs people the wrong way. They think me strange."

"Don't worry man!" Malik jumped in, clapping him on the back. "We're all gonna be friends here, and it's okay if you're a bit nuts." He laughed and turned back to the conversation he was having with Olivia.

Archer's eyes widened. "Am I really nuts?" he asked, more to himself than me.

"I don't think you are at all," I said in all seriousness. "We all have our quirks and our fears and our own way of dealing with them. Malik tends to be a little too excitable sometimes. "

Austin had finished calling up the last names and dismissed us offstage, telling us to go to our cabins, where we'd have some downtime before dinner.

Archer gave me a small smile and walked off with Xatu in the direction of our cabin. He did seem a little strange at first, but I warmed up to him. I think he would make a great friend. Malik soon accosted me as I walked down the path to our cabin.

"So, what do you think so far?" he bounced around on the balls of his feet, looking really excited. He had been flitting back and forth between Olivia and Dante and the other people in our cabin, asking for names and getting to know them.

"I really like this place, though they seem to keep such an air of mystery about here. I mean, we didn't even know we had passed until about an hour ago, and we learned that they had been watching us," I confided.

"Well, that part seems a little strange, but hey, it may have gotten us accepted, so I'm not complaining in the least." Scizor agreed vehemently, calling out it's own name. We laughed together and it felt like the old times.

In fact, we were laughing so hard that we almost ran into Olivia and Dante, who had stopped dead in their tracks. A second later, I saw why.

Our cabin was huge! Multi-storied and surrounded by trees, it seemed like the perfect place to spend our summer.

"Wow," we all breathed in unison.

Olivia smiled wickedly. "Race you inside," she said and we all took off running.

"Come on Archer!" I giggled as I blew past, Arcanine trotting alongside me. He looked confused, but when Xatu hooted and started chasing after Arcanine, he shook his head and gave in, jogging with us.

We ground to a halt once we made it inside and we recalled our Pokemon. A large central room greeted us, and all of our stuff had been dumped in the middle, a huge pile of suitcases and duffel bags. Comfortable sofas and lounge chairs encircled the luggage, and two staircases branched off into opposite directions near the back door.

A large table sat near the living area, and sets of clothes that had tags pinned on them lay in orderly rows on the wood. There were twenty-five of them, and each had their owner's name attached to it.

"Hey, guys, check this out," I called as more of our cabinmates trickled in with the same expressions that had graced our faces not a minute before.

I picked up my camp uniform and turned it over, walking back to the living area and settling down on one of the couches. My new friends joined me not a minute later, their own uniforms in hand. So that's why we were only told to bring clothes for the weekends. Not that I minded this uniform, it didn't look half bad.

The shirts were all a darker shade of blue, not quite navy and not quite plain blue. They looked quite nice. It was coupled with a black vest that had the number 13 sewn in white thread in one of the corners. Pockets artfully lined both the inside and outside of the vest, with a zipper so we could zip it up if it became cold. Dark jeans and a white Pokeball belt rounded off the uniform. A schedule was pinned to my vest, along with a letter.

_Dear Trainer,_

_Welcome to Pokemon Camp. This is your uniform for camp and you are expected to wear it at all times, save for the weekends where other clothes are allowed. This letter is tagged to one of two uniforms, the other of which will be given to you after the first dinner. As a camper in cabin 13, your team color is dark blue, and your mascot Pokemon is Suicune. You will meet all of your counselors, including the one assigned to your cabin at dinner as well. Schedules are divided up differently for each camper, so make sure your schedule has your name printed on it. Once again, welcome to camp and we hope you have good time here._

_Sincerely,_

_The Pokemon Camp Staff_

I put the letter into my back pocket and ripped my schedule from the uniform. I had Advanced Battle Techniques first thing in the morning after breakfast, followed by a free hour and then Poffin and Pokeblock making before lunch.

"Swap schedules?" Malik said from beside me. "I wanna see if we share any classes." I handed mine to him and he looked it over.

"Well it looks like we have half of our classes together," he pointed to Advanced Battle Techniques, Advanced Double Battling, the free hour and something called Legendary Bonds.

"Well, that's better than nothing," I said in response, putting my own schedule away. I wondered what classes I shared with Olivia, Archer and Dante. I stared haughtily at the pile of luggage a few feet from where I was sitting.

"Do you guys have Legendary Bonds as well?" Olivia asked, busy swapping her own schedule with Dante. "I've never heard of anything like it before."

"I guess we'll all have to figure it out then," Malik said happily.

"Do you think we should move our stuff?" I asked, completely off topic.

"I dunno," Dante said, toeing an exceptionally large suitcase with one sneaker. "But I think we're supposed to wait until after dinner."

"Speaking of which," Olivia said, glancing upside-down at her best friend's watch, "it looks like we should head down soon."

Archer was analyzing his own schedule, marking it up with a pen he took from the pocket of his indigo vest. I could barely make out Poffin and Pokeblock making in the same place as mine, as well as the Legendary Bonds class we all seemed to share. I walked over to him. "Do you wanna walk with us down to dinner? I'd like to look at your schedule," I asked him.

He paused for a moment before handing his schedule to me, waiting. I took a glance at it and saw we shared three classes together, the Poffin one, the Legendary Bonds one and a Medicinal Healing one. "Cool, it looks like we share some classes," I said happily.

"That's…nice." Archer replied, taking his schedule back. He looked over to where Malik and the others were laughing hysterically. Another group of Trainers were discussing classes by the table and still another gaggle was complaining about the uniform. "Would it be okay if I joined your group?"

"Totally," I smiled back. "You know, I think we could be friends," I said wryly. He looked at me, and I realized he wasn't much of a joking person. Oh, well, to each his own.

"Hey, Kaelen, you coming?" Malik shouted. The rest of the cabin was walking outside and down to the mess hall.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second." I shouted back, tugging Archer by his vest. "Come on, let's go!"

He sighed and allowed me to drag him down to the mess hall. This day had already been filled with so much excitement and I couldn't wait to see what was coming next.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone. I'm so happy to be getting both reviews and OC submissions, with a thanks to the people who submitted Archer and Zac. I could use another three OC's that will be playing more of a major role in this, but keep sending them in. In addition to basic information, I'd like to know what Legendary Pokemon they like (Minus Suicune, Raikou, Giratina, and Mew) as well as which cabin (1-13) they wish to be in. You'll see soon enough where this plays in…

**To Archer and Zac's creators, if they could answer the Legendary question, I'd appreciate it, otherwise I'll assign one for them. Thank you and enjoy this update.**

**-Drachesoul**

The sky had darkened by the time our entire cabin met back outside. Little lights illuminated the well-worn path to the mess hall.

"Come on, we don't want to be late," Malik dashed to the head of the line and started leading us away.

I sighed. Malik could always get a little excitable when he experienced new surroundings, but I'd never seen him like this, so carefree and happy. He wasn't even paying attention to his clothes anymore.

"Wonder what the other cabins are like?" I asked, thinking back to our uniforms. "Are they all as cool as ours?"

"Probably," Dante added nonchalantly, "Though I would like to see how jealous they'd be if things weren't the same."

Olivia smacked him. "Dante, don't say things like that. We're all lucky to be here, so don't go putting down the other twelve cabins."

She paused mid-step, "Even if we are cooler," Olivia added.

We approached the mess hall, and we could already hear people talking inside. The whole hall had a warm and friendly atmosphere as we walked inside. My mouth started watering when I smelled the food.

The mess hall was open and bustling with activity. A small stage took up one end of the hall, opposite the kitchen, a podium and microphone standing at the ready.

There were thirteen long tables with numbers hanging from the ends of them. Malik bounced over to the one labeled with a blue thirteen and waved us over.

"I guess we sit here," Dante said, picking out a seat, taking off his jacket and placing it over the chair. "Let's go get food, I'm starving."

I placed my own jacket next to his and walked to the line that was quickly forming by the kitchens. The smells wafting from the kitchen were heavenly and I could tell that I wasn't the only one who felt the same way.

The line moved without too long of a waiting time, and soon I was piling up my plate with as much food as I could get my hands on. I ended up leaving with a fairly large bacon cheesburger and some salad, ranch dressing poured liberally on top. Two chocolate chip cookies and a lemonade rounded off my dinner.

Winding my way through the mess hall and back to our table, I saw Dante and Archer already sitting and eating. I saw that they too had a huge amount of food on their dishes.

"Doesn't this food smell great?" I gushed, sitting down and taking a bite out of my burger. Oh my God, that was delicious. Dane told me that the food here was so-so, and I vowed to slap him once I got home.

"Tell me about it," Olivia said, setting her food down next to me and taking her seat. I waited until she had turned around to wave Malik over before pilfering a french fry from her plate. Yum. "I always thought camp food was supposed to be bland and uninteresting," she commented, dipping another fry into some ketchup and eating it. "But this is really good."

We all just murmured in varying degrees of agreement before returning to our dinner, all conversation ceasing. It was a comfortable silence, made all the better by the casual chatter around us, from people comparing Pokemon to raving about the food here like we had a moment before.

I was about halfway through my food when another boy set his tray down next to Archer's, who had stayed as silent as he was when I met him. "Do you guys mind if I sit here? You seem like the interesting ones from our cabin."

I looked up and saw a boy about our age, though he was a bit taller than Malik. He looked kind of quiet, but nice enough as he ran a hand through his disheveled brown hair. His blue eyes betrayed a little bit of unease, but that was to be expected. I mean, our group had only known each other for a few hours, and even I had been a bit nervous.

"Yeah, no problem. I'm Kaelen, nice to meet you," I greeted. Olivia waved from next to me. "That's Olivia," I said, gesturing to her with my hand, "And that's her friend Dante." Dante merely nodded before returning to his food. The boy had already gone for seconds and was already almost halfway done.

"My name's Malik," my friend introduced himself, offering his hand, which the other boy shook.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Zac Bowman." He smiled brightly and sat down next to Archer. "I didn't catch your name, I'm sorry," he said to the green-haired teen.

Archer swallowed his food before responding in much the same matter as he did with me. "Archer. Archer Gersone."

Zac waited for more, but after nothing but silence came from Archer he shrugged and turned to me. "Are you guys excited?" he seemed to lack the confidence Dante and Malik had but I didn't see a problem with that, after all, hardly anyone could compete with those two in terms of confidence.

"Oh yeah, totally!" Olivia piped up. "Our schedules have some of the most interesting topics I've ever heard of. Did you get the Legendary Bonds class?"

Zac nodded. "I have no idea what it's going to be covering but it looks really interesting."

"Doesn't it?" Olivia said excitedly. "Anyway, everybody I've talked to either has no idea what I'm talking about, or has no clue what the class is about," she huffed.

"I guess that's the air of mystery we're going to be encountering," Malik sighed. "You know, the more things become unclear, the more I want to know why."

"Curiousity killed the cat," I joked.

"Not if the cat looked both ways before crossing the street," he shot back with a smile on his face.

"That assumes the cat was run over by a car," Zac added thoughtfully. Malik glared at him, and threw a french fry at his face. Zac dodged it with ease and it hit a girl from the table next to us.

"Sorry!" They both called, before bursting into laughter. I could see they would get along just fine.

Camp was turning out to be one of the most entertaining places, and I couldn't believe that it was only the first day. As people started to finish up their dinners and returning the dirty dishes to the kitchen, silence gradually began to fall over the rest of the campers.

Professor Iris walked onto the small stage and tapped the mic, resulting in a blare of feedback that made everyone wince and cover their ears. "SO sorry," she apologized, blushing lightly. She coughed once before digging a piece of paper from her pocket. "How was dinner?"

A raucous cheer roared through the mess hall, apparently much to Professor Iris's delight. "That's good, I'm glad to hear you all enjoyed it. Now for a moment you all have been waiting for…" she paused for dramatic effect before saying, "It's time to meet the head counselors!"

Everyone started clapping as thirteen counselors jogged onstage, wearing a variation of the clothes Austin Hale had been wearing. They all wore the exact same outfit, with the exception of the shirts. Each counselor had a different color shirt with the Pokemon Camp logo on it. Spotting a flash of dark blue as they made their own way onstage, I realized that each cabin would have a counselor.

"As you may have figured out, there are thirteen cabins, each with their own counselor, team color, and Mascot Pokemon. These counselors will be in charge of keeping everything running smoothly, including refereeing battles and classes. So without further ado, let me introduce the counselor from Cabin One."

Austin Hale stepped forward this time wearing a red shirt, and a shrill cheer echoed through the room again, distinctly female. "I'm Austin Hale, but I think most of you know that already. My team is going to be the awesome Cabin One, also known as the Charizard Team. I'll also be teaching Beginning Battle Techniques and Double Battle Basics, so I hope you guys are ready!"

An entire table, which I assumed was Cabin One stood up and cheered. They looked a bit younger than the rest of the campers, though not by much. Maybe a year or two, I guessed. He stepped back and gestured for Professor Iris to continue with the intros.

Every time a counselor introduced themselves and what cabin they would be representing along with what classes they'd be teaching, a different table would stand up and cheer. I learned that our cabin, thirteen, was the last one, and the only one represented by a Legendary Pokemon.

Four of the cabins, Charizard (1), Serperior (2), Swampert (3), and Pikachu (4), were comprised mainly of younger campers, from ages twelve to fourteen. The other eight, Absol (5), Ursaring (6, which I noticed Finn was a part of), Braviary (7), Drapion (8), Lucario (9), Leafeon (10), Gengar (11), and Crobat (12), had campers around our age, from probably fifteen or so to around nineteen.

When the counselor for our cabin stepped forward, my jaw dropped to the floor.

"I am Lance, and I am the counselor for Cabin Thirteen, or the Suicune team, as they like to be called." I couldn't believe it. A former Champion from the Kanto Region was going to be our counselor? The table stood as one and all started cheering, with the other twelve cabins even joining in.

Beside me, I could literally feel Olivia quaking in excitement next to me. Even Archer and Dante looked amazed, eyes wide with wonder.

"What?" Zac breathed in astonishment. "No way, I must be dreaming."

"Than this is one hell of a dream," Malik said giddily. Great, yet another thing to make him even more hyper than usual.

"Breathe, Malik, breathe," I told him. He took several shaky breaths to calm himself down, then flashed me a thumbs-up.

"In addition to being a counselor, I will be teaching the Advanced Battle Techniques and Legendary Bonds class," Lance said before stepping back and letting Professor Iris take the floor again. I could hear the sighs of disappointment from the younger campers, who wouldn't have any classes with the dragon master.

"Thank you so much to our dedicated staff, who have worked tirelessly to make sure everything this year is up and running and ready to go. Before I dismiss everybody to make their way back to the cabins, I'd like to reiterate what was stated in the letter you received earlier regarding uniforms. On weekends, when no classes take place, is when your regular clothes are allowed, and at all other times, you are expected to wear your uniform."

Hardly anybody complained, which I took as a good thing. Professor Iris wished us a good night and walked off the stage, the lights that lit up the podium dimming as people started to leave. Chairs scraped all around us, and people were wishing their friends from other cabins goodnight before exiting.

All of us Suicune Campers were the last to leave, huddling close and talking about Lance. We were so incredibly lucky to have a counselor of his standing basically living with us for the next month. Oh boy, would Dane be jealous.

Crickets chirped as we all filed outside again for the walk back to the cabin. Olivia and Dante were whispering to each other and laughing. I hadn't heard Dante laugh yet, but he seemed truly happy hanging out with Olivia. I wondered if they were something more, and made a note to ask Olivia later.

Archer had called out Xatu and the two were walking side by side, taking in the scenery silently. They seemed to fit really well together, and Archer looked quite satisfied with his partner. Taking a leaf from his book, I called out Arcanine so we could chat.

"Things look really exciting here," I said to my partner. "Our counselor is Lance the dragon-master!"

_Yes, I am familiar with him. He has been the counselor of Cabin Thirteen for several years now. _

I frowned. "And you just decided to leave that tidbit of information out?"

Arcanine blinked. _You never asked and I didn't think it pertinent information._

I sighed, knowing Arcanine didn't mean to leave that part out. Hell, it probably had so many secrets to tell me, if only I asked correctly. "Well we better get ready for tomorrow. I have a feeling we will both end up exhausted once the day is over."

_I quite look forward to it Kaelen. We will battle together and win. _I loved Arcanine's confidence, even though I knew we were bound to lose sometime. Not even Champions could win every single battle.

"We won't always win, you know that right?"

_Of course, but that doesn't mean we can't go into every battle doing what it takes to win._

"You know, I like that thought." I recalled Arcanine once we reached the cabin again.

My cabin-mates were all huddled around the luggage pile. Olivia stood at the front, reading the names on people's luggage tags as Dante handed them to her.

I watched as Archer and Zac got their things and walked up the left staircase to the second story.

"Where are we supposed to go?" I asked as Olivia handed me my duffel bag.

"Lance said that the girl's room is up the right staircase and the boy's room up the left one. After that, he just retreated to his room and said that he would see us in the morning."

"Total jerk," muttered Malik, dragging his huge suitcase towards the stairs.

"I don't think he's a jerk at all," retorted Olivia. "We've all had a really long day and I just think he was willing to let us go."

"So you say," he replied, tugging his luggage up the stairs.

Olivia and I watched him go. "I think he's a little tired," she said.

"Yeah, but Malik isn't a fan of people that brush others off, you know, act like they don't exist," I had known Malik for long enough to know that he hated people like that.

"Dante doesn't like people like that either," she pointed to her friend, who was helping one of the girls carry her luggage up the stairs to the girl's room. "Hey, do you think it would be too much to ask if you would take my stuff as well and find me a bed next to yours?"

"Not at all, I actually was about to ask you the same thing," I took her rolling suitcase along with my bag and headed upstairs.

The room upstairs was cooler than the one downstairs in my opinion. The walls were painted blue, and a drawing of Suicune wound around the wall. The beds were twin sized and spaced apart enough to fit a small nightstand. Fitted with sheets in different shades of blue, I set my luggage down by one of the unclaimed corner beds before placing Olivia's on the bed neighboring mine.

She came up a few minutes later, after the last girl had found her things and was settled in. Together we unpacked our luggage, and we were now seated on her bed, talking.

"So, I want to know if there was anything going on between you and Malik," she said.

I blushed. "There's not anything going on at all, we're just friends, honest. I could ask the same about you and Dante."

She laughed. "No, we aren't together romantically, we've just been best friends since we started on our journey together back in Hoenn."

"It's the same story with Malik and I. Traveling the region always seemed a lot more fun and exciting when he was around."

"Did you get any badges? Me and Dante got all eight and challenged Hoenn's Elite Four."

"Wow, you guys must be really powerful then," I gasped. Malik and I were on our way to challenge the Elite Four in Sinnoh, but had heard about camp and got delayed.

"I suppose you could say that. We ended up in the top five, but backed out to come here before we got the chance to battle the Champion."

"Alright everybody, lights out!" Lance's voice called from downstairs. Immediately there came complaints from the direction of the boys room, Malik's voice leading the charge.

"I guess we should go to bed then," I said, a little disappointed that I didn't get to learn more about her.

"I guess so." She pulled a small Suicune plushie from her backpack. "Dante got this for me at one of the gyms. He knows its my favorite Legendary Pokemon," she explained when I looked at her.

"I'm not looking at you in disdain or anything," I corrected my look, and pulled out a Raikou plushie from my own luggage. "Raikou's my favorite. I got it from the eighth gym leader, Volkner, after I beat him."

We giggled as someone shut the lights off, plunging the room into darkness, though sparse whispers still punctuated the darkness. I was suddenly drained, as if all of the days events finally caught up to me.

It only took me a few minutes before I started to drift off, thoughts of Arcanine and what the hell 'Legendary Bonds' meant invading my mind. Tomorrow looked like a lot of fun based off of the brief descriptions of the classes.

"Good night, Kaelen," Olivia said.

"Night."


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning with an elephant on my chest. No, really, I woke up and could hardly breathe. Panicked, I opened my eyes and as they focused, I saw that someone's Pokemon had burst out and was conveniently settling itself down on my bed.

"What the—" I said, scrambling to get the Pokemon off my chest. The Pokemon was so big that it was hanging halfway off my bed.

"Donphan!" it greeted me happily, seemingly unconcerned that it was slowly crushing me to death. _Arcanine and the others have told me all about you. Is it true that you can understand us?_

"Yes, I can understand you, now get off!" I wriggled out from underneath the huge elephant Pokemon, but it took the combined help of Olivia and the Donphan's Trainer to get it off of my bed. _It is true then? Oh this is a day to be rejoiced, for we can finally be heard and— _The Donphan's thought was cut off as his trainer recalled him.

"Kaelen, are you okay?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows knitted together with worry. I took a few moments to catch my breath.

"Peachy," I wheezed. "Well, that was one way to get me up on time."

The commotion had woken the rest of the girls up and while a few complained about getting their beauty sleep disrupted, a majority of them shrugged it off like things like this were common occurrences. Olivia helped me up, and I watched in horror as my bed sank so low that it nearly touched the floor. The Donphan's sheer mass had almost buckled my bed in half, leaving a vaguely Pokemon-shaped dent in both mattress and frame.

"Oh, that's just great," I grumbled, kicking the bent frame. That only caused it to sink even lower. Day two of Pokemon Camp, my bed was already totaled, and I had a bruise the size of a baseball forming on my torso.

XXX

My bad mood lifted soon enough as soon as we ate breakfast down at the mess hall. I had changed into my uniform and was now wading through the hall toward the mass of identical campers with dark blue shirts. The sheer variety of food rivaled that of the dinner we had the evening before and the quality was no less great. The boys had heard of the…unconventional…way we'd been woken up and Malik couldn't stop laughing. His hyper mood seemed to have mostly worn off, the shock and awe of the previous day lost on him.

"So what are everyone's first classes?" I asked, glancing at my schedule. I had Advanced Double Battling in a few minutes and—wait, that wasn't right.

"Malik, I could've sworn that I had Advanced Battle Techniques first, not Double Battling." I handed him my schedule and pointed it out.

"Oh, yeah, Lance didn't tell you guys. He had a meeting this morning and asked that the Advanced Battle class switch with the Double Battling. He switched everyone's schedules sometime last night."

"How did he even get into the girl's room—" Olivia wondered, "—never mind, I don't want to know." She ate another bite of her pancakes to assuage whatever perverted thoughts were running through her head. Great, now I was thinking them too.

"Oh, okay. Does anyone else have the Double Battling?" Olivia, Archer and Zac all raised their hands. I wouldn't be alone then, good.

"Does that mean you two have different classes then?" Zac asked, pointing to Dante and Malik.

Dante checked his schedule and nodded. "I have a Potions and Healing class in a few minutes."

"And I have a Poffin and Pokeblock class after breakfast," Malik said after analyzing his own schedule. "That should be fun, I've always enjoyed cooking."

A bell somewhere in camp started ringing loudly, signaling the end of breakfast hour and the beginning of the day. I walked toward the battlefields with Zac, Olivia and Archer, as Malik and Dante went in the opposite direction, towards the buildings that would house the indoor classes.

A group of Trainers in differently colored shirts were hanging around the field, Pokemon at their sides. I spotted Campers from the Gengar, Drapion, and Ursaring cabins, as well as a couple people from the Charizard cabin.

We all milled around for a few minutes before our instructor arrived. "Hey, it's you!" I gasped, staring head on at the man who had registered Malik and I.

He ignored me, much to my chagrin, and addressed the rest of the campers. "Welcome to Advanced Double Battling, I'll be your instructor and the referee for the weeks to come, so don't piss me off," he added. I could practically feel the waves of glassy-eyed boredom and carelessness pouring off of him.

"Since today is the first official day, we will spend it battling each other, getting a feel for what it's like battling with your partners and learning the strategies and nuances of both Pokemon and people. Everybody, line up!" Galvanized, everyone quickly lined up in a row, hastily recalling Pokemon and getting ready. "As the name suggests, these will be double battles, and the people you pick now will be your partner for the week."

"So we'll have a whole week with these partners?" Zac asked. "Is there any reason why?"

"You will need to know how to work effectively as a team of four, two Trainers and two Pokemon. The winning teams from each battle will receive two points for their respective cabins and at the end of the week, a tournament will decide which partnership gets a bonus twenty-five for their cabins. Partners are as follows," he said, holding up a clipboard and calling names.

I annexed myself to Zac, who seemed rather relieved to have me as a partner. I watched as Archer paired up with a girl from cabin 6 and Olivia got teamed with a girl from the Charizard cabin. "Who's your partner Pokemon?" I asked, releasing Arcanine and giving it a pat on the head.

Zac reached for his Pokeball and let it fly. A burst of white light revealed a burly Primeape who proceeded to glare at me. I glared right back and it looked surprised at the display of confidence. In a way, I could see how Zac ended up with it. He looked like he needed a boost of confidence and the muscular fighting Pokemon would provide just that.

_So, you are the one that everyone's talking about, _the Primeape said, a distinctly male edge to the voice. _I look forward to battling with you,_ he said, offering a paw. I shook it cautiously, not wanting him to punch me. I was already bruised enough for one day, thank you very much.

"Okay, so how do we do this?" Zac asked me. I shook my head.

"I have no idea, but he looks like he's done pairing people up so we should know soon," I replied.

"Campers, we will now begin. I want Kaelen and Zac against Archer and…what's your name?"

A girl with white blonde hair looked up at him. "Ceara, my name's Ceara."

"Thank you, Archer and Ceara on the first field. You will have sixty seconds to discuss strategy and see each other's Pokemon."

We walked to the field, a standard-sized Gym field and claimed one end as ours. "So, it looks like they have a Cinccino and a Xatu," I noticed.

"The Cinccino shouldn't be that much of a problem, Primeape has a type advantage." Zac said.

"Yeah, but they also have a Xatu, and Primeape wouldn't fare so well against a Psychic-type. I think Arcanine and I will go for the long-range tactic, so you can get in close. We can hold off the Xatu, or at least distract it until you knock out Ceara's Cinccino."

"Sounds good, but we need to make sure to watch out for each other, double battles are all about teamwork," Zac added. "Like the guy said, we need to work together and make sure that our weaknesses are covered."

"Time!" Our instructor called, hitting a button on his watch. "The following will be a double battle, Zac and Kaelen vs. Ceara and Archer. The battle will end when both of the opponents Pokemon are unable to battle. Begin!"

"Go Arcanine, start us off with an ExtremeSpeed!" I yelled as Arcanine shot forward quickly disappearing into thin air. He reappeared a nanosecond later, toppling the Xatu over as it tried to use a Psychic on Zac's Primeape, who was trading blows with Ceara's Cinccino.

They seemed fairly well-matched, neither giving nor receiving any hits in the foray. Arcanine and Xatu had turned this into a battle of speed, each trying to outmatch the other to a move.

Xatu hooted and Arcanine was lifted off the ground with a yelp, caught in the Psychic Pokemon's Psychic attack. This could spell trouble for us if I didn't do anything soon. "Primeape, Close Combat!"

I was surprised when Zac's Primeape came to Arcanine's rescue, hitting the Xatu head on and distracting it long enough for Arcanine to break free of the attack. As a fighting move, it dealt hardly any damage to Xatu, probably more of an annoyance than an attack.

"Xatu, quick, recover and use Psycho Cut on the Primeape." The Pokemon righted itself and began charging energy into one of its wings. I had precious little time to act. Ceara's Cinccino had been temporarily incapacitated, one well-placed Drain Punch dazing it right off the bat.

"Arcanine, Protect," I shouted, hoping that my partner would get to its teammate in time.

Just as Xatu finished charging the Psycho Cut, Arcanine jumped in front of the Primeape, a green barrier surrounding the two of them. The Psycho Cut bounced harmlessly off of it, saving Primeape.

I began to notice certain discrepancies with Archer and Ceara's teamwork. They seemed to be focused on taking down their particular target, not working together to take down our Pokemon. I knew that would be our saving grace.

"Arcanine, Fire Spin," I commanded, watching in awe as Arcanine summoned a huge whirlwind of fire, trapping Xatu in the middle.

"Xatu!" Archer cried.

"Now's your chance, Zac, finish off that Cinccino," I said calmly. I had complete confidence that this plan would work.

"I'm on it," he replied, "Primeape, use another Drain Punch!"

"Cinccinno, use Attract!" Damn it. Primeape's fist halted inches away from the Cinccino. Ceara's Pokemon must be a female. I'd underestimated her Pokemon and now Primeape was at its mercy.

Xatu was still trapped in the flaming vortex, and would be for a while yet, so I had some time to remedy the situation. "Arcanine, Primeape helped you out, now its your turn. Use Crunch on Primeape, but make it weak."

"What are you doing?" Archer said. "Primeape is on your team!"

"Zac, please, I think it's the only way to snap Primeape out of this!" My teammate nodded his assent and Arcanine bounded forward, fastening its jaws around the Primeape's belly. As a Dark-type move, Crunch would barely inflict damage on my teammate, or so I hoped.

We waited on tenterhooks as the lovey look on Primeape's face faded away, to be replaced by anger. It swung at Arcanine, who dodged the attack by a hair. "Primeape, no!" Zac called. "Arcanine was trying to help you, you had fallen for Cinccino's Attract!"

As it heard Zac's call and rounded back on the Cinccino, Xatu broke free of the Fire Spin, mildly burned and rather annoyed. "Arcanine, keep Xatu away from Primeape." It growled in agreement and went after Archer's Pokemon with another ExtremeSpeed.

A huge boom rocked the field a minute later and Cinccino fell back, unconscious. As the dust surrounding the field settled, Primeape limped out, looking weary but victorious. Zac cheered and Primeape sent a weary wave towards its trainer.

Arcanine was busy keeping Xatu at bay, nipping at its heels and sending small bursts of flame after it, keeping it too preoccupied to launch another Psychic attack. If Xatu managed to get Arcanine back in its hold, Primeape wouldn't be able to fend off an attack from it. My partner worried the Xatu into the middle of the field like a herding Growlithe before jumping back.

_Do it now. I can defeat this Xatu, just give me the command. _I nodded stoically.

"Finish this! Zac, help me out here! Arcanine, Sunny Day!" My fiery canine howled and the morning sun intensified, warming up the previously chilly air.

"Primeape, use Double Team followed by Leer!" The combination of moves left Xatu completely distracted by the multiple copies of Primeape, all of them leering dangerously at it. It flinched and that was the opening I needed.

Glancing at my teammate I gave the signal for him to get his partner out of the way. "Now, Primeape, get out of the way," he yelled, just as I gave the command to my partner.

"Arcanine, Overheat!" Arcanine's eyes shone red and a huge blast of fire burst out from its jaws, aimed directly at Archer's Xatu. Archer yelled as the Sunny Day intensified move rolled over the Xatu. The flames faded, leaving a somewhat charred and unconscious Xatu.

"Battle over, match won by Zac and Kaelen." The referee determined. As soon as the battle was over, I rushed to Archer and Xatu, who hooted feebly upon seeing me.

"I'm so sorry, are you two okay?" I asked. " I didn't think Arcanine's Overheat would be that powerful."

"You only did what the moment required," Archer said simply, cradling his Xatu and fishing a Max Revive out of his backpack, breaking off a bit and feeding it to his Pokemon. "Xatu forgives you, don't you?" It hooted again and nibbled my finger affectionately.

_I do not blame you. You and Zac merely outdid us. One would expect no less of a partner in battle. _I nodded dumbly at Archer's Xatu as it spoke to us telepathically, a skill only Psychic and some Ghost-types knew how to do.

"You're right, Xatu, you did your best," Archer agreed. "Thank you for checking up on us, I really appreciate it." He recalled his Xatu and offered a hand to me. "Great match, I'll think twice about underestimating you again."

I glared at him "You underestimated me?"

Archer withdrew his hand for a moment and ran it through his hair. "Yes, and I'll be sure to never do that again."

"Promise?" I asked, holding out my own hand. "Shake on it."

"I promise."

I helped him to his feet and we walked off the field and toward Ceara and Zac. My teammate had gone to check on Ceara, who looked rather put out that she had lost early on in the battle.

"I guess I have to get used to battling more," Ceara said, recalling her Cinccino after treating it. "I should learn how to mix my Coordinating skills with battling to win next time."

"Wow, you were a Coordinator?" I asked, thoroughly impressed. It took some major skill and dedication to become a Coordinator.

"Not a very good one," she berated herself. "I always seem to get second place. I came to camp to see if I can learn some new techniques and strategies for the next season."

"Don't say that," I admonished. "It takes some real talent to become a Coordinator in the first place."

Ceara smiled at me, "Thanks Kaelen I appreciate it. I'll work super hard in the next couple weeks so that by the time we battle again, we'll win!"

"Don't disappoint," Zac added, and she shot him another smile.

"Don't worry, I won't."

By now, the novelty of our battle had worn off and the rest of the class had moved on to the second field, where Olivia and her Umbreon were teamed up with the Charizard girl and her Jolteon against two Gengar campers and their respective Dusknoir and Crobat. They seemed to be having an easy time with it, effortlessly alternating attacks and almost immediately downing the Dusknoir with a Dark Pulse and Shock Wave combination.

We rejoined the rest of our classmates to cheers and applause as they congratulated Zac and I for superb teamwork. I glanced at my watch. 10: 30. We were only finishing up our first class and I already wanted to drop. This camp was nowhere near what I had expected it to be, but it was a lot more fun than I had hoped.

Despite a still sore ribcage and an altered schedule, I felt on top of the world. Arcanine and I had gotten off on the right foot with our first battle together, but I wouldn't take the campers lightly. I had put all my effort into that battle and barely won with Zach helping me. We had such a long way to go still.

"Match over, won by Umbreon and Jolteon." I joined along in cheering Olivia on as she recalled her Umbreon, looking tired but happy. I shot her a thumbs-up which she returned. The campus bell rang again and everyone else booed.

"Relax, you'll get your chance to battle tomorrow, but that's all the time we have for today. Now go away," the instructor said petulantly and shooed us off.

Olivia and Zac caught up with me as I headed towards one of the buildings. "What do you have next?"

I checked my schedule and said, "Poffin and Pokeblock Making. You?"

"The Healing class Dante just finished with," Olivia said, and Zac jerked his finger towards her in agreement.

"Same here."

I returned my schedule to one of my vest's many pockets and sighed. "All right, I'll see you guys later."

"Later!" they called back, walking towards a different building.

I groaned. I didn't fancy myself any type of chef, and while I could make food for myself decently enough, I didn't want to see if the same talent applied to making Pokemon food. I waited until they were out of earshot before muttering to myself, "It's just cooking, how hard can it be?"


	9. Chapter 9

I know I haven't updated this in a few weeks, (bad Drachesoul, bad) sorry. Thanks though to twilight8899, because without that message, it probably would have been even longer for this part. Those of you who have been following this are excited for the Legendary Bonds class, and it's here! Two new OC's join the cast, though I am looking for two more main ones, a male and a female. Thanks, and hope you like this part. -Drachesoul

It was absolute chaos all around me. Things were flying everywhere, and every so often I'd hear a surprised squeak. Several people were trying to restore order, but their efforts were in vain. A haze surrounded everyone, resulting in near-zero visibility. Others still were trying to fight back with all of their power, and I was among them.

"Take that!" I yelled, chucking a wooden spoon at the nearest Trainer. He dodged it just in time, flinging a handful of flour in my face as retaliation. Yes, within ten minutes of our first Poffin and Pokeblock class, things had escalated to a full-on food fight, with boys fighting against girls in a battle of the sexes.

"Come on, you can do better than that," the Trainer teased. "You throw like a girl." He turned around and was doused in a torrent of Oran Berry juice, courtesy of a blonde-haired girl. My opponent let out a rather feminine yell.

"And you scream like a girl," I retorted, flashing my friend a smile. "Nice one, Ceara."

"No problem, us girls gotta stick together," she replied, ducking down beneath one of the tables, using a cast-iron pan to shield her head. I followed her under the table, safe from most of the various flying projectiles.

"How did things get this bad?" I asked, narrowly avoiding a whisk as it whizzed past my head.

"Well, you know food fights, they just escalate like one of those snowballs as it rolls down a mountain."

I peeked over the edge of the table and immediately got hit with another handful of flour. Spitting it out, I growled and tossed the nearest thing I could find, in this case a bag of berries, in the general direction of the assault. A thud and a muffled curse later told me that I had hit my target, or someone unlucky enough to be in the way.

Retreating back under the table and wiping more flour off of my face, I found that Ceara had moved to another table a few feet away, doing fierce battle with another Trainer who had sought refuge under the table. Ceara pushed him out from underneath the protective umbrella of the table just as a rain of chocolate chips poured down on them from above, pelting everyone within a foot radius of them with the small bits of chocolate.

"Mmm…chocolate," I murmured, catching one of the rogue chips in my mouth and letting the sweet taste of chocolate dissolve in my mouth.

My dark blue shirt had turned white with flour a long time ago, as I dragged myself along the floor, reaching Ceara once again. "We're gonna be in _so_ much trouble for this," she said.

"Yeah, but in my opinion, totally worth it," I laughed. "Now, lets show those boys how food fights are won."

"You got it," she smiled wickedly, motioning for me to follow her, crawling army-style to the wall. Two other girls joined her. One of them was the Charizard girl from before, Olivia's battle partner. She too had flour smeared across her face, and had the same wicked grin on her that I had seen not a moment before on Ceara.

"Kaelen, meet Fantasy and Arcus." The other girl wore a blue shirt, though I couldn't tell if she was Suicune camper or from the other cabin that sported blue. "They're gonna help us."

"Cool," I replied, wondering what exactly it was that they were up to. We shimmied along the wall, trying to avoid catching attention, and soon stood in the only clean spot left in the room, the pantry. "Oh man, we could have some serious fun with this stuff," I giggled.

"No kidding," Fantasy breathed, taking one of the huge twenty-gallon pots usually used for making mass amounts of glaze that were drizzled over the Pokemon treats. "Now if I remember correctly, all we need is this, and those things over there."

She pointed to cans upon cans of berry juice, the same stuff Ceara had dumped on the boy Trainer earlier, and a huge bag of sugar lying in the corner. "Let's mix these things together first," she said.

"Won't someone hear us?" Arcus asked, keeping watch at the door. Thankfully, everyone else still seemed to be consumed in the food fight.

"Nah, I don't think so," Ceara said. "Out of all the buildings in camp, this one is the only one that isn't connected to another in some way. Soundproof walls mask the sound of the cooking equipment, so no one will be able to hear us, either."

"Sweet. Let's end this. Kaelen, can you stir this for a minute?" I complied, taking a long spoon and stirring the mixture until it was nice and sticky. "Great, thanks. Arcus, do you have the other thing?"

"Yes. But we need to tell the other girls first."

"I'll do it," Fantasy volunteered. "I'm the youngest, and the boys usually refrain from hitting me too often." She disappeared around the corner.

"Now all we do is wait." We all waited in silence for Fantasy to return. After a few minutes, I caught a glimpse of shockingly red hair weaving its way towards us.

"All set?" Ceara asked, and Fantasy nodded her head in confirmation. "All right, so here's what we're gonna do…"

It was my job to sneak the now full pot of sticky sap into the middle of the room, and place the twine into the mixture. This delicious dessert sap was many things, and extremely reactive to fire was one of its perks. A chef would have to constantly be on the watch when cooking this stuff, because one wrong move and…well you get the picture. And we planned on being the wrong move.

Pot now placed in the middle to ensure maximum distance and twine inconspicuously sticking out of the mixture, I snuck back to the wall, where Arcanine was waiting. I had released him from his pokeball and told him to stay hidden in the pantry. The line of twine that fed from the pot ended here, waiting to be lit.

I waited for the signal, which I was told would be very obvious. I could see from the slowly settling cloud of flour and sugar that the girls had all slowly retreated one by one behind a strategically stacked row of tables turned on their sides, leaving the boys pelting one another in confusion.

Arcus flashed me a thumbs up just as the last girl disappeared behind the wall of tables and I gave Arcanine the command. He gave a small huff and a tiny flame burst to life, lighting the twine. It flashed once before burning quickly. I recalled Arcanine, thanking him for his help and ran for the tables. I threw myself behind one just as the flame reached the pot.

Boom.

The sap exploded outward, hitting every single one of the guys and soaking them in the mixture. They all stood rooted to the spot, looking mortified as the girls popped out one by one to observe the wreckage. Red sap oozed everywhere and we looked out in awe at the mess we had made. Score one for the girls.

"I think it's safe to say that we're the winners," Ceara smiled. The door burst open to reveal a small horde of counselors, attracted by the explosion and the admittedly rather sweet scent of Pokeblock glaze.

"Who started this?" one said, and fingers started flying, accusing one another. "That's enough! I don't care who you accuse because you are now all going to clean it up! I expect this building to be spotless by dinnertime, and you are not to leave until it is!"

We all groaned and dutifully started cleaning. "Well, you win some, you lose some," I sighed, picking up a mop from one of the counselors.

"True, but even you have to admit, that was pretty much a win," Arcus smiled.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Guys: 0, Girls: one," Ceara cheered, still high off of our successful plan.

"Counselors: one million," Fantasy said, lugging a bucket of water in her hands. We all sighed in unison and got back to cleaning.

XXXX

Rise of the Guardians: Chapter Nine

XXXX

"Sometimes I question my sanity," I groaned, sitting down at the dinner table after a long and arduous day of cleaning. Everyone ended up missing lunch in the process and had to make do with peanut butter sandwiches and fresh Oran Berry Soda. We also ended up missing the rest of the day's classes thanks to the Pokeblock Plot and I could see around me that more than one of those involved complained of sore muscles.

"Sometimes I question yours too," Malik responded, and I swatted him halfheartedly. The rest of the Suicune campers, including Arcus, who I found out was also in our cabin (all of the food stuff from this morning had obscured any sign of color on her shirt).

"But it was _so_ worth it," I concluded, still smiling like an idiot. "Oh man, I wish you could've seen the boy's faces when that stuff exploded, it was awesome!"

Arcus dropped her spoon and reached into her bag. She pulled out a camera and my eyes widened in glee. "I took pictures before we had to clean everything up," she said, turning on the camera.

Everyone huddled around her as she began to flip through the pictures. Arcus was a pretty good photographer, specializing in taking candid shots of the others. I spotted Fantasy dodging a well-aimed bag of berries that and one of Arcanine and I hiding in the pantry, waiting for the signal, a cloud of recently released flour obscuring us from vision.

She stopped on one of the four of us, taken by one of the other girls. We were standing side by side and grinning wildly. Ceara and I were in the middle, holding up a glaze-soaked spoon and pot respectively. Arcus and Fantasy were next to us, tasting some of the hastily-made glaze and giving a thumbs up to the camera. Arcus had even scribbled the number ten on a bit of cardboard and flaunted it in the air.

"Ooh, E-mail that one to me later," I requested, and she nodded. That one was going somewhere special. "What did we end up missing?" I asked everyone else.

"A fair bit," Zac replied, "Though it wasn't nearly as interesting as your day seemed to be."

"Lance came back for the Advanced Battle techniques after lunch and immediately thrust us into a knockout tournament, but once he realized that half of his class was cleaning up the kitchen, he relented and let us play dodgeball." Malik added. "Archer has a wicked swing."

Archer blushed a little, "It wasn't that good."

"Please!" Olivia retaliated. "You hit both Zac and Dante with one ball."

"Okay, maybe I'm a little good," he relented.

"And he admits it," Olivia joked, and everyone cracked a smile. "But seriously, is everyone excited for the Legendary Bonds class?"

"Totally," I said. "I talked to some of the other campers while we were cleaning, and only two of them had the class as well. Everyone else had something different. It seems so mysterious."

Malik glanced at his watch and smiled. "Well the mystery should reveal itself within the next half an hour, class starts any minute." My jaw dropped. I had barely started eating!

Right on cue, the camp bell started ringing and a wave of campers finished eating and headed out to their next class. The seven of us, along with Ceara, Fantasy, Finn (grrr) and two others stayed behind awkwardly, not knowing where to go.

"Damn," I swore under my breath, reluctantly putting my tray of food away, my muscles groaning in protest as I stood up to return the tray to the kitchen.

"…so, how's the weather?" Malik drawled, twiddling his thumbs. The cafeteria was silent, though and I could've sworn that I heard crickets chirping.

"Are you guys here because of the Legendary Bonding class or whatever?" Ceara wondered, looking around at the twelve of us. "Does anyone know where we're supposed to meet?"

"No idea," Olivia said simply, "Dante, didn't Lance tell us last night that he was going to be teaching this class?"

Dante nodded, "But I don't see him anywhere."

"Figures," Malik snorts. "The guy is a classic example of a lazy Trainer."

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't call one of the Kanto Elite Four a lazy Trainer to his face," Lance appeared right behind Malik, toppling him over in surprise. I facepalmed. Lance reminded me a bit of Volkner, the gym leader from Sunyshore. Great and powerful trainer, but prone to laziness sometimes thanks to their high positions.

"Now, as I assume everyone knows, you are here for the Legendary Bonds class," he continued, not even the slightest bit fazed by Malik's insult. "For this class, you will need your backpacks, your partner Pokemon and good walking shoes. Follow me," he instructed.

I released Arcanine and walked outside with the others. I saw Malik's Scizor and Olivia's Umbreon padding side by side with their Trainers. Zac and his Primeape were busy trading mock punches with each other, killing time. Dante's Staraptor was flying a few feet above our heads, chirping to Fantasy's Jolteon. Ceara was holding her Cinccino in her arms and Arcus seemed to be having an intense telepathic conversation with her partner, a shiny Gallade.

"Wow, a shiny Gallade," I marveled, sidling up to her. "How did you capture it?" I asked tentatively.

_I am a male, _it said patiently.

"Oh, sorry. How did you capture him?" I rephrased my question, trailing off when both Gallade and Trainer stared at me. "What?"

"You can understand Gallade?" Arcus said.

"Sure, don't all Psychic-types and a few Ghost-types have the ability to speak to humans telepathically?"

_Yes, but I wasn't speaking in the language of humans, _the Gallade explained. _I was conversing in the language of Pokemon._

I gasped and shut my mouth. Smooth move, Kaelen. Nobody else was supposed to know about my little _ability_. "Um, is there any chance that you didn't hear that?"

Arcus shook her head. "You can speak with Pokemon?" she asked giddily. I nodded slowly. "I thought I was the only one!"

"You too?" I said, surprised. "I thought _I _was the only one with that ability." Apparently not.

_This skill is extremely rare, _Gallade admitted, now speaking English, _though Pokemon lore does speak of a few gifted humans that were able to understand us. To have two such people nearby is truly an honor. _The blue Gallade gave a smart bow at the waist to me.

"Do all of the Pokemon you meet give you the same reaction?" I asked Arcus and she rolled her eyes in confirmation.

"How much farther?" Dante asked from a little ways ahead.

By now I was getting quite tired of the walking. I had no idea where we were headed, only that Lance was leading us, and now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I'm following.

_Would you like a ride? _Arcanine barked, leaning down to let me get on. I gratefully accepted and got on, my sore muscles getting a brief respite.

"Not much," Lance's voice drifted back. "We're actually almost…here!

We all gathered around the entrance to a huge cave. "Is it just me, or is anyone else getting kind of a horror movie-ish feeling?" Zac said cautiously, and everyone else raised their hands.

"Now, now there's nothing to be afraid of," Lance calmed us down. "There are a few very important things that I need to tell you inside before we start class. These things are not to be repeated outside of this cave and to no Pokemon except for your partners."

I nodded and poked Arcanine for his affirmation. He huffed in agreement. Everyone else's Pokemon nodded their assent in one form or another.

"Okay then, why don't we all step inside?" With Lance in the lead, we all traipsed inside the dark cave. As our eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, we could see that there were murals of Pokemon lining the walls. Walking a bit further in, we were met by a large domed cavern, murals still trailing around the rock.

"What are these?" I breathed, tracing one mural of Sinnoh's Legendary Lake Trio. They were a sight to behold, though age had dulled the once brilliant colors.

"They're all of Legendary Pokemon," Lance responded. "And that's where this class comes in." He gestured around to the huge cavern. "Welcome to the Legendary Bonds class."

"What is it that we'll be learning?" Malik asked, always the studious one.

"Everything." A new voice answered. I could barely see in the cave as it was, but I was able to spot a line of figures approaching us out of the milky darkness. They all stepped forward at once and my jaw hit the floor for the second time since starting camp.

"Cynthia," I stated, familiar with the Champion of my home region of Sinnoh. "Gary. Wallace. Alder. Steven." I rattled off the names of the other Champions. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _all_ of you doing here?" Olivia expanded on my original thought. "Don't you have leagues to manage?"

"Yes, but for the moment we have turned control of these leagues over to our respective Elite Four Trainers," Alder said, "there are much more important matters to attend to."

"Such as?" Dante asked. "We're just Trainers, what do you want with us?"

Steven tutted in disapproval, "Dante, you of all people know that you are anything but "just Trainers". You and Olivia swept through my Elite Four without any problems. I always did wonder why you had backed out of challenging me."

"In fact, all of you are Trainers or Coordinators of high standing," Cynthia added. "Kaelen and Malik, I hope you intend on challenging me soon." I just nodded blankly.

_You didn't tell me that you were challenging the Champion_, Arcanine growled petulantly. _I would have joined you without a question._

"I didn't think it pertinent information," I hissed back under my breath, stealing one of his often used phrases.

"You didn't exactly answer my question," Dante reminded them.

"We are here because we all require your skills," Gary admitted. "I am sure that you have recently heard of a myriad of small scale attacks by an insurgent group across the five regions."

"It's on the news all the time," Ceara said. "But there has always been activity like that for as long as I can remember. Team Rocket from Kanto and Johto."

"Teams Magma and Aqua from Hoenn," added Olivia.

"Team Galactic from Sinnoh," Malik and I said at the same time.

"And Team Plasma from Unova," Finn broke in unexpectedly.

"I see you are well-informed," Alder said. "Yes, while problems associated with those teams has always been an issue, we're talking about other, darker things."

"Ya see, we have information that the high-ranking people of those teams are hatching a plot. But the catch is that they're _all_ planning something at the same time, an event spanning the five different regions." Gary gestured for us to sit down on the cave floor. Arcanine sat behind me and wrapped his fluffy tail around me protectively.

"So they're working together?" Archer guessed, sitting cross-legged next to his Xatu.

"In essence, yes." Lance said. "These small scale attacks are just the beginning as far as we're concerned. Other people, and even Pokemon are starting to sense that something big is going to happen."

"And what?" Zac scoffed. "We're supposed to stop it?" He looked around at the somber faces of the Champions. "Oh, God, we're supposed to stop it, aren't we?"

"Why can't you do anything?" Finn asked harshly. "You're Champions!"

"Our sphere of influence is limited," Cynthia said softly. "We can only do so much, stop so many followers before we're overwhelmed."

It dawned on me that she was telling the truth. "So these attacks recently, the "small-scale" ones, happened _because_ you were already overwhelmed?"

"The public doesn't know much at all," Wallace chipped in for the first time. "They think the small rise in crime is just associated with changing times. We have reached our limit, but nobody even realizes the danger yet."

"That's where you and your Pokemon come in," Lance told the twelve of us. "We have recently been in contact with some Pokemon."

"Some legendary Pokemon," Alder clarified. "Us Champions have always been aware of the existence of these Pokemon and have been visited by them in the past. They too realize the danger of this new plan and have come to a conclusion."

"They wish to help us, but by cosmic laws set by Arceus, the creator of Pokemon, are forbidden to do so. As such, they have come up with another course of action." Cynthia traced the wall mural of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina.

"A loophole if you will," Gary added. "They wish to find Trainers with high moral standing and the power to match that will act as their human Champions, as Guardians of the regions."

Malik snapped his fingers in recognition, "You want us to be—what, Guardians? Forming bonds with the Legendary Pokemon, that's what this class is about?" The rest of us gasped, suddenly understanding the meaning behind this "fake course".

Steven sighed. "Yes. Some of the Legendary Pokemon have already placed their markers on you, as the ones they wish to be represented by."

_I think we shall take things from here, dear Champions. _The clear, female-edged voice reverberated throughout the cavern, and I could tell by the looks of confusion on everybody else's faces that they had heard it too.

A flash of light illuminated the cave and the Legendary Pokemon known as Cresselia floated out, and the Champions respectfully stood back.

_We have seen through your actions over the years that you possess the talent and traits needed to represent the regions and protect them. Should you accept the burden of becoming our human Guardians, we will consent to share our powers with you. If so, repeat the phrase "I accept the task."_

As one, we all stood and walked as if in a trance towards the Lunar Pokemon. "I, Arcus, accept the task." I whirled around to see Arcus walk forward, almost to the point of touching the powerful Pokemon.

_Dear Arcus, please come forward and receive my power then, for it is I who you will be representing. May the moon shine ever so brightly on your future._

Arcus hesitantly touched Cresselia and another blinding flash of light consumed the both of them. When it dissipated, Arcus fell to her knees, exhausted. Her Gallade bounded to her and picked her up easily, cradling her in his arms.

"Is…is she okay?" I croaked.

_She will be fine. Our powers are not meant for humans and as such, it will take your bodies several hours to respond to and accept the changes. _

"Oh…okay then," I said, still worried about my new friend.

"I, Dante, accept the task." Dante stepped forward, and Cresselia disappeared. Not a second later, Giratina stood in her place.

_Dante, you have chosen to accept the task and I, Giratina shall answer your call. Take the power of the shadows and use it to right the world. May you use the darkness to light your world. _

The brown-haired boy stepped forward and placed a steady hand on Giratina's flank. This time a dark cloud obscured my vision. When it cleared, the Renegade Pokemon stood over Dante's limp form. Alder and Steven stepped forward and helped him to his feet, carrying him next to Arcus.

As soon as her friend was safely out of the way, Olivia shot forward. "I, Olivia, accept the task." Another shift, and it was Suicune who stood where Giratina had been not a moment before.

_Olivia, I see that your heart is as pure as the driven snow, and I, Suicune am happy to share my power with you. The steady strength of water and ice shall be your gift, and may the aurora show you the way to your true destiny. _

Suicune approached her and placed its muzzle on her forehead, and the world lit up again. Olivia was moved next to Dante, who had fallen unconscious.

"I, Archer, accept the task."

"I, Zac, accept the task."

"I, Ceara, accept the task."

This time, three Pokemon replaced Suicune. Uxie stood in front of Archer, Kyogre looked directly at Zac, and Jirachi alighted on top of the huge Water-Pokemon's back, giving Ceara a twinkling expression.

_Archer, I see that your analytical personality is only a part of who you truly are. May you continue to grow on this journey and become a great Trainer. I, Uxie, the being of knowledge give my strength to you._

_Zac, you are a powerful Trainer. Use the torrential ability of the seas to overwhelm those who would seek harm on those you love. May the oceans heed your call as I, Kyogre, agree to share my might._

_Ceara, you are extremely talented in what you enjoy doing, though you may not see it for yourself. I, Jirachi, the wish-maker, shall be represented by you, and may the stars light your path in the coming darkness._

Together, they approached their new allies and one by one, received their power. And together they fell, bodies adapting to the surge of strength. Their partner Pokemon dragged them to the slowly growing huddle of new Guardians, standing watch over them.

"Is this forever?" Finn asked, stepping directly up to Kyogre. "Is this all our life is going to be now, Guardians to the Legendary Pokemon?"

Oddly enough, that was a question that had been tumbling around in my mind since Cresselia had mentioned the task.

_Nothing is forever, young Trainer. When the danger recedes, so will you be given the chance to walk away as well._

"Then I'll do it. I, Finn, accept the task."

"I will too," Fantasy added, approaching the giant Pokemon. "You say this is important, and that it will help those who can't fight for themselves. That is the reason I am assenting, but not for anything else. I, Fantasy, accept the task."

Kyogre nodded and vanished, the other two Legendaries following in his wake. I could still smell a fresh sea breeze even after they had gone. Deoxys and Articuno materialized in front of their respective charges.

_Finn, you know that your heart is worthy of being chosen, though your mind is conflicted. I, Deoxys, lend you my power. With the fluidity that I use to shift forms, may you find the same inner peace and know that nothing is absolute until you allow it._

_Fantasy, you have a brilliant mind and a kind soul. You will need to learn how to balance the two to obtain your dearest wishes. I, Articuno, one of the great birds, will give you this chance you so deeply desire. May my wings of ice provide the stalwart response to your enemies._

Two more down a second later, and I mean that literally. The only ones left standing were the two unknown campers and Malik and I. I really wanted to think this over before agreeing, something I hardly ever did. My older brother used to tell me that I ran into danger first and asked questions later. Someway, somehow, I knew that this decision would affect my life forever, regardless if I walked away from it later.

"What do you think, Kaelen?" I heard Malik whisper. "Some part of me really wants to do this, another part wants to run for Stark Mountain, and the rest is just nervous."

"I…I'm going to do this, Malik. I truly believe that we can stop these people from carrying out their plan."

"But we're kids, almost eighteen, yeah, but still kids. Hell, I still snuggle with a plushie on occasion."

"I get that, and I think that's why we can do it. We don't know what it's going to be like out there, but we alone can prove that it doesn't matter what age you are, as long as you have the right heart. Fantasy is only twelve, remember?"

Malik's face morphed into one of determination. "Yeah, you're right. I had to ask my best friend about it though first." He held out his hand and I took it gratefully, fingers intertwined.

"I, Malik accept the task."

"I, Kaelen, accept the task."

At once, Mew and Raikou appeared to us.

_Malik, your absolute faith in your decisions and of those of your friends is both a help and a hindrance and your humor the anchor to your abilities. You will need a strong sense of right in order to tell which is which. I, Mew, will show you the way. May your power be as unending as a psychic burst, and your laugh carried across the world._

_Kaelen, you possess a soul filled with electric desire. I can see that you will go extremely far, for you and the other have a unique gift. As I, Raikou, lend you strength, use your talent to break the bonds between human and Pokemon. Unleash the power of lightning and strike down those who cause harm to others. _

As Raikou finished, touching his tail to my forehead, my world lit up as the most glorious pain shot through me, an addictive rush consuming my vision. Malik's hand tightened in my own as the world around me faded slowly to black. I could barely feel it when Arcanine picked me up and gently deposited me next to my best friend. The last two campers had spoken and were now facing their Legendary Pokemon.

_Kaelen, you alone will face the darkness in its full power, and you alone will be able to control it. _Raikou's voice sounded one last time in my head before I lost consciousness.

What in the world had we gotten ourselves into?

A different voice now, one completely androgynous sounding and powerful, now entered my mind.

_Rise, my Guardians, rise. _


	10. Chapter 10

**I love the positive responses that I'm getting for this story so far, and let me tell you that at the moment, I'm nowhere near done. Kaelen and her friends are just getting started. Basically, keep following and reviewing because it makes me happy that others are reading. (Plus it stokes my slowly growing confidence) Now, I'm not one for giving out spoilers, because half the time even I don't know where my (and your) characters will take me, but I may be in the mood if people keep asking for them**

**On another note, sorry if I'm being sporadic with updates right now, as I've just started college. My deepest apologies, and a virtual cookie to those who haven't given up on this. I've also gotten into drawing during my free time, and am actually starting to draw some of these characters. **

**:) –Drachesoul**

I woke up nestled in my beat-up bed in the Suicune cabin, hugging my Raikou plushie for all it was worth. I shot up, immediately regretting it when my body protested mightily. Looking out my window to the clouds lazily drifting by, I took a moment to take stock of my various aches.

"Ow, God, I feel like I got run over by a Mamoswine or something," I hissed, reaching behind my head with my arms and working out one of the countless kinks. "What the hell happened last night?"

As if on cue, some switch triggered in my mind and the memories came rushing back in full force. The Champions. Cresselia and the other Legendary Pokemon. Guardians.

_Kaelen, you alone will face the darkness in its full force, and you alone will be able to control it. _

_Rise, my Guardians, rise._

Oh my.

"Kaelen, is that you?" I heard Olivia groan from the bed next to me. She sat up, looking just as worn out as I was, absentmindedly stroking her Suicune plushie. "Can you explain to me what happened last night?"

"I dunno, it seems too unreal."

"I-I heard something in my mind before I must've blacked out, something about Guardians?"

I sighed. "Damn, so it wasn't a dream then." Here I was hoping that the weight of the world hadn't been thrust upon us.

Olivia gasped from beside me, "So it _did_ happen. I'm Suicune's Champion and a Guardian?"

"And I'm Raikou's." As soon as I said it out loud, a shock ran through me and I gasped involuntarily. I could feel, deep down inside, that I had changed. I sensed a foreign power running through my veins, and it felt good. It throbbed for a minute before settling in my left shoulder.

I pulled my sleeves up and to my great surprise, saw a marking there. Circular, with jagged spikes that looked like tiny lightning bolts pointing outwards, an intricate star-shaped design filled the middle.

"Huh." I said, nonplussed, running my fingers over my new tattoo. "That's new."

Looking over to my right, I noticed the clock that was positioned on the dresser between our beds. Its red numbers flashed 11:30. Following my gaze, Olivia glanced at the clock and yelped. I then realized that we were alone in our cabins.

"Kaelen, it's 11:30! Why didn't they wake us up?" I shrugged, still gazing at my newest (read: only) tattoo.

Still running things through in my head, I didn't notice Olivia getting out of bed and getting dressed. I was jolted out of my personal reverie when she let out another squeal. Whirling around to face her, I noticed her looking at her own left shoulder, where a similar marking had been etched.

"When did I get a tattoo?" Throwing back my own covers and slipping into my uniform, I sighed. Lance and the others were going to have a lot of explaining to do.

As I made my way to the hallway stairs, I could hear her murmuring to herself as she did her hair. "It doesn't look half bad…"

XXX

Rise of the Guardians: Chapter 10

XXX 

"Where are we going?" Malik asked for the twelfth time. I had to admit that I was curious about where we were being led to.

We had passed the Mountain section of the WildZone a few minutes ago, trudging single-file along a sandy beach. Really, how they had managed to set this entire place up was beyond me. I hadn't gotten a good look at the place the last time I was here, being far too distracted with other things. My best friend shot me a look and I shrugged my shoulders.

"We're heading to what will become your base of operations for the next few weeks." Lance called from the front of the line. "We needed a place where you guys could train, away from the other campers."

"Why would we need a separate training place?" I asked.

"Because you will be learning things that the other Trainers cannot ever know about. Only the Elite Four and Gym Leaders of the five regions know about Guardians, and it is imperative that this knowledge stay within a certain circle. We also have some other Guardians that will eventually trickle in from other camps, and this is where they will stay, until we set them up in a cabin. "

Okay, I got that part, but what about my friends and family? Hell, the rest of my team? My team, who had been an integral part of my journey, was my family. I confided everything in them, perhaps even more than I did with Malik.

Lost in my own thoughts, (that seemed to be happening more and more often as the days wore on) I nearly ran into Zac as he stopped short.

"We're here," Lance stated proudly, facing us and waving his hands in a dramatic manner. I peeked over Zac's shoulder and frowned. What in the hell was he talking about? All I could see was the beach, stretching on for what seemed like miles, the surf lapping up against the shore, Wingull cawing in the distance.

"I don't mean to be rude, but what are you talking about? There's nothing here." Ceara said.

Lance wiggled his finger, "Ah, but have you really looked?" I found myself squinting, but could see nothing. What was he on about? "This will be your first 'challenge' as Guardians, in a way."

"Oh great," Malik grumbled, "A challenge already."

Lance cleared his throat, "The first thing you will learn is how to perceive things that others cannot. As Guardians, you have certain abilities that you will tap into to access the power of your Legendary Pokémon."

_One of them is the power of enhanced sight, _a voice rumbled in my mind. Raikou. I looked around me and saw the others with similar expressions, they too were receiving messages from their Legendary partners. _Focus your energies and will them towards your eyes. If you do it correctly, things that are invisible to others become clear to you. _Raikou's voice fell silent, apparently finished with the explanation.

I decided to give it a shot. I closed my eyes and focused my energies to that small core of power that I had detected earlier that morning. It buzzed as I made contact with it, as I connected myself to that bit of strength. It traveled through my body at a warp speed, before settling in my eyes.

I opened my eyes and gasped. Directly behind Lance, where I had once seen nothing but beach, stood a small building, about the size of the Suicune cabin. "Where the hell did that come from?" I asked. Everyone else but Malik let out various sounds of astonishment as the house revealed itself to them.

"What are you talking about?" Malik growled, clearly unable to see. "There's nothing there."

"No." Archer cut in, looking closer. "I see it. It's a beach house." Malik huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why can't I see it," he complained.

"Try closing your eyes first," Zac said, and my friend complied. "Now, focus your will deep down until you feel a spark. Once you have that, just will the energy toward your eyes, and you should be able to see it."

Malik closed his eyes, still irritated, and stood perfectly still. I smiled, knowing how hard it was for him to stay perfectly still. He wasn't the type to stay put for very long, as he wanted to explore or move around.

Suddenly his eyes jerked open and a wide smile crossed his face, "I can see it, I can see it," he giggled. I couldn't help but laugh at his antics, and the others soon followed, Zac clapping him on the back in congratulations.

Even Lance cracked a grin. "Now that you all have succeeded, we can get on with the show. This house has been blessed with protection from all of the Legendary Pokemon, so as long as you are a Champion, you will be able to enter."

Fantasy raised her hand. "How were you able to see it? You aren't a Guardian…are you?"

"Ah, yes, about that. As your unofficial teacher/ mentor, the Pokemon have granted me access to this house. I am the only non-Guardian that can see this house, and I should _stay_ the only non-Guardian that can see this house." He emphasized the last part, staring directly at me.

"What are you looking at me for?" I growled. "Look at the pretty house instead." Lance grinned, and I knew he was joking with me. I groaned good-naturedly, and rolled my eyes.

"So what is it that we'll be doing here?" Olivia asked, still staring at the house with wide eyes.

"Training, for the most part. There are going to be things you need to learn in order to make the most of your new bonds. When you are not in class, eating or sleeping, you will be expected to be here, working on various things."

Lance motioned for us to follow him as we walked inside our new base of operations. It looked almost exactly the same as the Suicune cabin, save for the walls and doors. The walls had artwork on them that combined all of the cabins that we had come from. High-tech computers lined one wall, while old-fashioned bookshelves filled with various books lined another, creating the image of a classy secret hideout. Oh, wait. It was a secret hideout.

"Damn, I could get used to this," Dante whistled, dropping his backpack on one of the couches and settling down.

I stayed behind with Archer and Olivia as Lance led the rest of my friends on a tour of the rest of the house. "Don't get used to it," I said, "I get the feeling that we won't have much downtime, not if what they said last night is even the slightest bit true."

Everyone came rushing out of one of the back rooms all of a sudden, expressions stricken and on guard. "Whoa, whoa, where's the fire?" Olivia asked, quickly gauging the expressions on everyone's faces.

"See, I told you!" I whispered conspiratorially to Dante, who grimaced a bit, before leaping up off the couch, all ready for action.

"Lance just a call on his phone from one of the lead counselors from the Hoenn camp. They sent a group of campers over here about a day ago, and they were supposed to have arrived by now. Lance said they hadn't arrived and got all worried." Ceara explained, letting her Cinccino out of its ball. "They should be close by though, Lance mentioned that one of the locals spotted a group of about seven teenagers not far from here. And get this, Two of them are Guardians!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's go find them!"

They nodded and ran outside, calling their partner Pokemon. I let Arcanine out of his Pokeball, and he yawned, stretching luxuriously. _What is the problem? _I explained the issue, and my partner's eyes took on a whole new glow, all sleepiness gone.

Dante had mounted Staraptor and took to the skies, saying he would head up the aerial search. Malik asked Scizor to go along as backup while he rode with me. Zac asked that I lead the ground party, as Arcanine would come in handy with tracking the missing campers.

Lance caught up to us before we left. "Guys, as much as I appreciate the readiness, Kaelen is the only one with Pokemon to ride. For the rest of you guys, "his eyes glinted maniacally, "I have the perfect thing. Does anyone have a driver's license?"

Ceara raised her hand, and Lance took her away from the group. A minute later, I could hear the sound of an engine revving. No freaking way. Ceara drove out from behind our base in a Jeep, grinning wildly and cheering.

"Alright guys, get in!" The rest of my friends eagerly jumped in the jeep, while Malik and I stayed behind.

"Arcanine, can you take two people?" I asked, giving him a pat on the back. He woofled in response and crouched down so we could get on.

Ceara donned a pair of sunglasses (I don't know where she pulled them out from), and called over. "Lance said that the last contact he received from them was from about five miles from here, by Route 221. He's staying behind in case he gets word from the Hoenn camp. He'll call if he hears anything," she said, pulling a cellphone from her pockets.

"That's by the Pal Park, isn't it?" I said, and she gave a thumbs up in return. That's not too bad of a trip. We could easily make it there in about fifteen minutes. "We ready?"

"Ready!" came the enthusiastic response, and Arcanine bounded off, making slight turns as I whispered the directions in his ear. "Let's go save some Campers!"

XXX

Route 221

XXX

"Oh, no," I whispered, sliding off of Arcanine and examining the area. They had definitely been here, and something bad had gone down. Three different tents were splayed around a campfire, still smoldering slightly. "Guys, search the nearby area, maybe we can find a clue as to where they went." They nodded and dispersed, breaking off into groups of two and searching around.

_I smell fear,_ Arcanine said, putting nose to ground and snuffling around. _There were a lot more than seven people here though, that is a fact. _ I knitted my eyebrows together, thinking hard. Who could have possibly known about these seven? Moreover, who had the power to take out seven extremely powerful Trainers?

"Kaelen!" Zac shouted. "We found some of them!" I leaped onto Arcanine and dashed towards his voice. Fantasy and Zac were kneeled over two prone figures.

"Are they okay?" I asked in a rush. I was soon followed by the rest, attracted by Zac's cry for help.

"They're breathing okay," Arcus said, quickly settling down and examining the two teenage boys for injuries. "They've been unconscious, but I think they'll wake up any minute."

"Oh thank goodness," I breathed, fearing the worst. True to Arcus' word, they began stirring. "Guys, are you alright?"

"Dude, what the hell happened," one of them groaned, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. "Who are you?" He asked suspiciously.

"I'm Kaelen, and you are…"

"Blake. Blake Evans." He still seemed disoriented, so helped him up, supporting him as he swayed unevenly. "Where are my friends? The rest of my group?" I shrugged, telling him that I had no idea. " Where is my partner? Nate!" he yelled, catching a glimpse of his friend as he woke up.

"Nate, are you okay? Where's our counselor?"

"Calm down," Arcus pleaded, as she roused Nate. "You're both hurt and need to get some rest."

"We can't just sit here and wait, we need to find them," Blake said.

"You're in no state to help them right now," Archer stated calmly. "We'll find them, just stay here with us for now." Blake slumped, clearly defeated.

"Okay," he said in a small voice. "Just find them please."

"Zac, can you help Blake?" I asked, and she nodded as I transferred his weight to her. "I'll take Archer, Olivia, Dante and Fantasy to find the others. Arcus can you help Nate…" I turned again to Blake, who looked at me.

"McAden. Nate McAden." I nodded. I touched him briefly before mounting Arcanine again, ready to finish what we started. I felt a spark, and no, not the romantic kind. He must have felt it too because he looked at me strangely. " Are you a Guardian?" he asked, and my mouth dropped.

"How do you know?"

"I felt the same feeling with Nate when I first met him. You're all Guardians, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but right now, I need to go and find the others, so please stay here." Patting Arcanine, and followed by Archer, Fantasy, Olivia and Dante, I dashed off into the woods.

If they had been kidnapped, then there would only be one logical place to take them. "To the Pal Park," I called.

Someone was going to pay for hurting them. I may have just met them, but those two guys were also Guardians, and there was no way in hell that I was going to let down their friends. I'm never going to have a normal day, am I?


	11. Chapter 11

…**Sorry. *coughs* Well, I've finally found the next part of this story, after…what? A year and a half? Two years? You know, I'm not gonna say anything else. Enjoy if you want. -Drachesoul**

Zac watched as Kaelen and her small entourage ran deeper into the woods and toward the Pal Park. He turned around to look at the others who had stayed behind. Arcus and her shiny Gallade were bustling around the clearing and keeping a watchful eye on the two new boys.

One of them, the taller one, Blake looked quite irritated and was shuffling around, dragging his feet and looking like he wanted to hit something. Zac just hoped he didn't try to hurt any of his friends. He walked over to Blake and sat down on the worn stump of a tree that had died ages ago.

"How could you tell that Kaelen was a Guardian?" he asked sincerely.

Blake turned his attention towards the green-haired teen, before shrugging and sitting cross-legged on the forest floor. "I dunno, a feeling I guess. All of you have that certain vibe, like the one I feel around Nate, and he's one too. I just put the pieces together."

"Who, if I may ask, did you bond with?" Zac questioned, picking up a small rock and tossing it to his Primeape. The Pokemon batted it away easily with one arm and propelled it back to his Trainer. The game went on for a few minutes before Blake answered.

"Darkrai. It's a long story, longer than I care to share right now." He huffed. "I hate all of this waiting around, I need to go and find the others. I need to find my partner."

"Who's your partner?"

For the first time, Blake cracked a small smile. "Rocket. He's a Blastoise, and he's been one of my most trusted friends." His smile faded as he absently reached for his belt, only to find it empty. "Alright, screw this. I'm gonna find Nate and then we're going after whoever took our friends.""

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You still don't look too well."

"How I feel physically is nothing compared to the possibility that those I care about might be in danger. I'm going, and you can either come with us or stay here."

Standing up and dusting off his pants, he walked away to find his friend.

As he left, Zac shook his head and motioned for his Primeape to follow. Kaelen had told them to stay here until she and the others got back, but he could clearly see that things were not going to pan out that way.

"Well, that didn't work as planned."

XXX

Pokemon Camp: Rise of the Guardians

Chapter 11

XXX

"All right, so here's what we're going to do," I said, leaping off of Arcanine's back and addressing Fantasy, Olivia, Dante and Archer.

The Pal Park stood a few hundred feet away, eerily silent, an air of malevolence hovering around it. There was no doubt that this was where we were supposed to be. Arcanine growled beside me and I patted him absentmindedly.

_There's something about this place that sends shivers up and down my spine. _

"Can you sense if there's any Pokemon or Trainers inside?" I whispered softly enough so as to not alert my companions to our conversation.

_I sense many people inside, and many Pokemon as well. I believe this is the place you were talking about. _

"If there are Trainers in there, we're gonna have to battle them, and we've no idea how powerful they are."

Dante scoffed, and I shot an annoyed glance his way. "Kaelen, you do realize that we were at a camp for gifted trainers, right? Many of us have completed the gym or contest circuit in our home regions, so I don't think that some goons are going to beat us."

"Those bastards are nothing compared to Nate and I," Blake Evans growled, coming up suddenly behind us. Nate, Arcus and the rest of our little team filed in behind him. "If I can't beat a few thugs, then what does that say about the guy who's strong enough to challenge Sinnoh's Elite Four?"

I glared at Arcus who was suddenly very interested in the ground. "Sorry, they wanted to come and help their friends. I couldn't stop them."

I sighed. I saw this coming, even from only exchanging a few words with Blake and Nate. They seemed like the kind of guys who wouldn't give up, so why did I think I could leave them out? "Okay, now that you're here, what do you think we should do?"

The back door to the Pal Park swung open and we quickly ducked down behind the bushes surrounding the perimeter fence. I cautiously peeked out over the top of the bush to see two men wearing jet-black suits drag a couple of teenagers outside. They glanced at each other and with a vicious push, threw them off the loading dock platform.

I winced as they hit the ground hard. The fall wasn't that bad, maybe four feet or so, but I could still hear their bodies impacting the cement below. They were stirring now, slowly, but it meant they weren't injured too badly. I had to hold Blake back by the arm to stop him from rushing out to help them and blowing our cover.

"Stop," I hissed under my breath. "We'll get in touch with the rest of our group and tell them to get your friends out of here, but right now we need to get inside the building. You have a good heart, Blake, but that's not going to help us get rid of these people!"

He relaxed under my grip and nodded gravely. "So what's our plan?"

"How many of you were in the group?"

"Well there was Nate and I, and five other people headed to camp. I recognize the two that just got thrown, Emma and Xander. Jackson, Kira and Quinn must still be inside."

I thought over what we were going to do. I had an older cousin who worked an internship at the Pal Park a few years ago and he had invited me and Dane along for a couple of days of work. Assuming the people in charge hadn't done _too_ much remodeling since I was last there, I knew my way around.

My plan was almost ready, but I had to do one more bit of sleuthing. "Arcanine, do you hear or smell anything that would indicate that the Trainers and Pokémon are being kept in separate places?"

"Wait, why would that be important?" Ceara asked, looking confused as Arcanine began sniffing around. Xatu hooted and its eyes flashed bright blue. My guess was that Archer understood what I meant, and had Xatu try to get an aura reading of the front building.

"Both Blake and Nate had their Pokémon stolen, right? It makes sense to separate Trainer and Pokémon, especially if they're really good at battling," Archer explained. "Take away one half of the equation and the solution is harder to achieve."

"Exactly," I said. Xatu nodded at Archer, seeming to confirm the suspicion. I looked to my partner and he huffed. "There are more than enough of us to split up into different groups."

I beckoned for everyone to huddle up. "Arcus, you, Archer, Malik, Nate and Zac will focus on finding the other campers while Dante, Olivia, Blake, Ceara, Fantasy and I defeat these losers and get everyone's Pokémon back."

"Let's show these people how _real_ Trainers battle."

XXX

Nate peeked around the corner, checking to make sure there weren't any extra thugs lying in wait. Arcus had easily dispatched the grunt guarding the back door, working together with her Gallade to defeat the man's Lairon. Malik and Archer had tied him up and dragged him behind a row of tall metal crates, obscuring him from view.

Now they were inside the building and according to Archer's Xatu, his friends were just down this hall, in a room not far from the exit. "Hey guys, we're clear."

Tiptoeing quietly down the hall they reached the second door on the right. Nate bent down to look through the keyhole and could see his friends and fellow campers trussed up in the center of the room, looking frightened. It took all of his power to not barge in there and tell them everything was okay.

Without making much noise, he tried rattling the doorknob, but like he had thought, it was locked. "Do we need a key?"

Archer shook his head, and whispered, "None needed. Xatu, Psychic!" His partner's eyes glowing softly, the door unlocked itself in a matter of seconds.

"Nice one, man," Zac complimented him. Nate tried the door again and it clicked, opening with a slight creak.

His missing friends jumped in surprise as he entered, their fear quickly giving way to utter relief. The room was freezing, and his friends were shivering in the cold. A hard knot of rage settled in Nate's stomach as he watched them, obviously suffering. Pulling a knife from his back pocket, Nate quickly set to sawing through the ropes binding his friends. Kira was the first one free and she tackled him, giving him a tight hug,

"Nate! We thought those guys had done something really bad to you and Blake," her eyes widened, "Where's Blake?"

"Relax, he's with another group, trying to get our Pokémon back. I was so worried about you guys!" He freed Quinn and Jackson, thankful that none of them seemed hurt.

Malik and the rest of the Guardians shuffled around, looking a bit awkward as they watched the reunion. He cleared his throat and Nate turned towards him, reminded of the mission. "Right. Nobody has their Pokémon on them, I imagine. Blake and this girl Kaelen went to go find our partners, so we should get out of here before any more of grunts come in."

He held out his hand to Kira and she took it gratefully, in turn helping up Quinn and Jackson. Malik handed over the jacket he was wearing and placed it around Kira's shoulders. Zac and Arcus quickly followed suit, and soon his friends were no longer shuddering. Looking around at their mismatched group, Nate realized for the first time how lucky they really were. Without the help of these people, he would still be lying unconscious in an abandoned campsite, with no clue as to how to get his friends back.

_We're okay now. I'm coming for you, Blaziken buddy. I'll never leave my friends behind._

XXX

"Well, well, look who's sneaking around," a voice said to my left. A woman melted out of the shadows, wearing the exact same suit as the men we had seen earlier.

"Someone didn't take the No Trespassing signs seriously, did they?" another voice hissed to my right, and a man appeared, nonchalantly tossing a Pokéball in his left hand.

Our team had almost made it to the center area of the building, and these two goons were the only things left between us and the missing camper's Pokéballs. I was about to call out Arcanine when Olivia tapped my shoulder, looking determined.

"Kaelen, I think Dante and I have this battle. You three go find the Pokémon, and we'll keep these two at bay."

"You sure?" They looked pretty tough, even for grunts.

Olivia nodded and called out Umbreon. Dante walked to stand at his best friend's side, letting out his Staraptor. "Go save the day, Kaelen," he said.

Umbreon snarled at the grunts, who had sent out a Haunter and Venipede, rushing forward and delivering a brutal Night Slash to the Haunter. The battle was getting underway now, so I ushered Blake, Fantasy and Ceara past them and into the central room.

The door shut ominously behind us, and a second later a huge thud came from the other side of the door, followed by a strangled cry. I didn't know whether it was from the grunt's Pokémon or theirs, but I decided to keep an optimistic outlook.

A bright light was suddenly turned on momentarily blinding us. I winced, shielding my eyes, and when I could finally see again, a tall, thin man stood in the center of the room. Unlike the rest of the people we had encountered, his black suit had blood-red piping surrounding the collar and pockets, lending a fashionable, if evil-look to his appearance.

"I've been waiting to see how long it would take you to reach me. Surprisingly, you made it here before the clock struck the hour." He glanced at his watch, looking crestfallen. "I now one of the other administrators a dozen donuts."

He tossed a Pokéball to Blake, who caught it easily. It opened up to reveal a huge Blastoise, who I could only assume was Rocket. "Now, a battle is no fun if the other team doesn't have a fighting chance," he said.

Blake had run toward his partner, and was now hugging him tightly, crushed in his Pokémon's embrace. He turned to face the strange man, fists clenched. "You just sealed your defeat, old man."

"Did I?" The strange man looked unimpressed. He sent out two Pokémon, a Galvantula and Golem. "If I'm not mistaken, you need _two_ Pokémon to perform a double battle."

I walked forward and called Arcanine, joining Blake in the center. "And we have two. So stop talking and start losing!"

"Very well. Galvantula, use Discharge, and Golem, use Stone Edge!"

"Arcanine, Protect!"

"Rocket, Surf!" I smiled, glad that I had reacted properly to Blake's plan. Arcanine's impervious shield fell into place just as Golem's Stone Edge hit, the stones bouncing harmlessly off it. Galvantula's Discharge hit Blastoise, doing a good amount of damage.

Blake didn't seem worried though, and sure enough, though weakened, Rocket came surging back. His Blastoise tucked all of his limbs inside his massive shell and a torrent of water came pouring out of the holes, striking the Golem directly and washing over the man's Galvantula, leaving them both soaked.

Golem was definitely worse off and appeared to be on its last legs. Galvantula was similarly damaged, but still looked in decent enough shape. I had to remedy that.

"Arcanine, use ExtremeSpeed on the Galvantula," I said, and my partner shot forward, slamming into the electric spider and sending it tumbling on the floor. It didn't get up and the man scoffed, returning his Pokémon.

"Not bad, not bad, I'll admit to that. But you've no control over what's about to hit. Golem, use Rock Slide!"

Neither Rocket nor Arcanine had the power left to dodge the attack and were subsequently hit with a powerful Rock Slide. "No!"

My partner was severely weakened, having been hit with a super-effective move. _It can't end like this. We have to get everyone's Pokémon back safely._

_We will,_ a deep voice thundered in my mind. Raikou. _Join with me, and see the true power of a Guardian! _

I felt power well up within me, and I concentrated on Arcanine, willing my strength to meld with his. I opened my eyes and gasped. My entire body was radiating a pulsing aura, and sparks flew off of me in every direction.

A spectral version of Raikou was standing next to me. I looked at Blake, who was enveloped in a similar, shadowy black aura. Spectral Darkrai floated by his side, power flowing from Legendary Pokémon to Trainer.

_Let the power flow to where you want it to go._

I looked at Arcanine, who was panting with exertion, and battered beyond belief. I wouldn't let this man get away with what he had done. Arcanine's eyes suddenly flashed gold, and a thin string of power connected him to me.

All of his battle wounds faded away, and his mane crackled with electricity. Rocket had been healed too, and his cannons were charging a jet-black power. The attack came into my mind, and I knew that we would win.

"Flash Overheat!"

"Abyssal Hydro Pump!"

_The power of friendship will overcome everything._

Golem couldn't take the combined moves and collapsed, getting recalled into its Pokéball. The man applauded sarcastically. Olivia and Dante busted through the door, followed quickly by the rest of my friends. The five missing campers trailed along behind them.

"Well done, young Guardians, well done." I prickled. This man could see what we were, and it dawned on me that that was what he really wanted to see. "Exactly what I had hoped for."

"What?"

"All of this, the kidnapping and theft of your friend's Pokéballs, was all just a test. Of course, we had our suspicions about your power, but we had to see the true power of the Legendary Pokémon for ourselves. Long and hard have we been searching for the ultimate power in this world, and it seems that after years of effort and wasted money, it seems that Team Oblivion have finally found the answer."

Blake shouted, "You put me and my friends in danger just to test a theory?"

"Yes," the man replied coldly. "And we would do it again. Oblivion cares nothing for the Trainer or the Pokémon, only for the Legendary Pokémon and their power. I've seen all I needed to see for now. But there is no doubt that we will meet again."

He snapped his fingers and the lights went out. They stayed off only for a few seconds, but when the backup generator kicked in, he was gone. In his place was a small pile of Pokéballs and a blue and black backpack.

Nate and the Hoenn campers rushed forward and retrieved their partners. Nate's Blaziken picked him up easily and hugged him, happy to see his Trainer. With everyone reunited and Nate reunited with his laptop and backpack, we left the Pal Park with our first victory and even more questions.

Who was that man? What was Team Oblivion? And what exactly were they planning?


End file.
